COIMBATORE: Following the recent death of migrant workers in wild animal attacks, officials of the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) conducted awareness campaign and other measures in all 50 estates in and around Valparai to mitigate human-animal conflict.
"We have sensitised migrant workers from Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, Assam, etc., through their native languages with the help of estate field officers during lunch and tea time. Ninety awareness programmes were conducted in January alone," said K Giritharan, forest range officer of the Manomboly forest range.
"We have asked residents to keep rice and fruits in closed containers to keep elephants away from their houses. There is a high chance that elephants would approach the houses after being attracted to the rice or fruits, such as jackfruit, banana and mango, and unexpectedly damage the house when trying to consume them," he added.
They have been advised to keep rice in plastic containers and fruits in utensils and even incense sticks in closed containers as elephants can smell them even at a kilometre distance.
"As per our instructions, ration shop staff are clearing the stock by supplying to the beneficiaries before dawn to avoid elephants from approaching the shop. This was followed carefully when sugarcane was distributed during the Pongal festival. If an elephant approaches a ration shop, it will definitely approach nearby residential houses," Giritharan explained.
Usually, leopards and sloth bears take shelter in bushes that grow in the surroundings of residential colonies. On our instructions, estates have cleared bushes for 30 metres so that migrant labourers would get clear visibility of animals in the vicinity.
"We have requested migrant and native residents not to venture out of their houses when elephants are outside their houses. Recently, a woman who came out of the house in panic on seeing an elephant was fatally attacked by the animal.
"We have informed the autorickshaw, taxi, and TNSTC drivers to stop vehicles and not to chase or operate their vehicles even if elephants stand on half of the road. They will move slowly from one side to another if the vehicle stops for some minutes. We have also shared the contact numbers of our staff to obtain alerts on elephant movements. Before taking tourists for a ride at night, we have instructed drivers to check with the staff if elephants are roaming in their places," said Suresh Krishna, Valparai Forest Range officer.