COIMBATORE:One more ‘Kumki’ elephant named Sujay was brought to Chadivayal Kumki elephant camp on the outskirts of the city from Theppkkadu elephant camp on Thursday evening. The elephant will be engaged chasing away wild elephants that enter human habitations across Coimbatore district, along with another Kumki elephant at the camp.
According to forest sources, the 34-year-old captive elephant was born and brought up at the Theppakadu elephant camp and had undergone proper training. The services of this Kumki elephant was availed not only in Tamil Nadu, but also in Wayanad in Kerala.
“With the induction of the new Kumki elephant, we have strengthened the protection of human habitations against intrusions of wild elephants,” M Senthil Kumar, District Forest Officer, Coimbatore Forest Division.
Narasipuram (Boluvampatti forest range), Naicken Valley, Thadagam Valley in Periyancikenpalayam forest range, a theme park in (Mettupalayam range) and Puthukkadu in Sirumugai range, have been identified as vulnerable areas where man-elephant conflict has been frequently reported.
Apart from deploying Kumki elephants, the forest department officials are also planning to set up solar-powered water pumps and other few measures to avert wild elephants entering human habitations.
“The State government has asked us to set up solar-powered water pumps to quench the thirst of wild animals. We will set up two solar-powered pumps in each of the six forest ranges in Coimbatore forest division,” said M Senthil Kumar.
“We have also requested the State government to sanction Rs 1 crore to blast rocks where ever we were unable to set up Elephant Proof Trenches (EPT). We will blast rocks up to 50 kilometres in Coimbatore. Concrete stretchers will also be set up to prevent wild animals entering human habitations,” said Senthil Kumar.
Forest department officials claimed that human deaths due to elephant attack had come down in the recent years.
“We have found that the number of deaths have come down following our preventive measures. The measures include setting up elephant proof trenches (EPT), trip wire alarm systems and creating awareness among the public to follow do’s and dont’s to prevent elephant encounters. We have also created fodder source and water troughs in the forests to avert elephants straying into human habitations,” added Senthil Kumar.
“The number of deaths have come down to five in 2014-15 financial year from 18 deaths in 2013-14. As many as 14 persons were killed by wild elephants in 2012-13 financial year,” he explained.
The DFO said that the department had planned to set up five trip wire system during 2015-16. Two systems will be set up in Periyancikenpalayam and Boluvampatty each, and one in Sirumugai forest range.
According to sources, there is more than 400 wild elephants in the six forest ranges, and their numbers would increase during the migration of elephants.
A female elephant leads the herd in entering farm lands, especially maize fields, as it is the most attractive crop to elephants. Senthil Kumar explained that a cow elephant would like to eat large quantities of maize as it helps increase their lactating capability.
Wild Boar Count Has Risen, Finds Census
While the forest staff and volunteers of the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) are still engaged in the census of wild boars in the forest, the Coimbatore Forest Division has already completed the study ahead of ATR, and find out the population of wild boars in their region.
This is the first time that the forest department had conducted a study to ascertain the population of wild boars following concern from farmers over excessive damages to their crops by wild boars.
The farmers, upset by damage created by wild boars, have been demanding the forest department and the District Collectors across the State to grant them powers to kill the animal, as they have been experiencing enormous loss in their farming.
M Senthil Kumar, District Forest officer, Coimbatore Forest Range, said, “We have found that each and every beat across the six forest ranges in Coimbatore division, has a healthy population of wild boars.”
“We could not conclude that the population of the animals as increased or decreased, since this is only the first time we have conducted the study. We have conducted the study in 80 beats in six forest ranges, of which 90 percent of them had wild boars,” he explained. But, the DFO did not reveal the exact population.
Based on instruction from the State Government, the Coimbatore forest officials conducted a study before two months, employing the direct sighting method, and identifying animal presence using its signs.
“For the last one year, our crops like tomatoes, groundnut, banana and red cow peas, were extensively damaged by wild boars. Despite this, the tripartite meeting (by farmers, agriculture department and forest department, in the presence of the District Collector) called to solve the issue three months before, had no developments,” said Valukku-parai Balu, a well-known farmer.
When contacted, V K Melkani, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, told Express that the survey will be submitted to them by all conservators of forests by May-end.
He accepted that the wild boar population is steadily increasing across the State, but ruled out the possibility of permitting farmers to kill the animal.
“After getting the population details across the State, we will carry out scientific study to deal with the issue,” said Melkani.