Villagers of Chapanala village area under Nagaon district of Assam are finding out that their economy is precisely hanging by a thread woven around their paddy fields to keep elephants away. The area touches the Chowang Reserve Forest interstate bordering Nagaon and Karbi Anglong districts respectively and falls on a prime ‘elephant migration route' or'‘elephant (movement) corridor'.
Officials of the Assam state forest department (wildlife division) said, “Due to massive illegal deforestation and encroachment wild elephants are facing a major food scarcity, which forces the wild jumbos to come out to the low lands from the hills and create man-elephant conflict. It has already caused havoc among the peasants as well as common people. Farmers are adversely affected and facing problem in crop (Rabi) cultivation as the wild elephants come out in force to paddy fields searching for food every year. Growing instances of 'man-animal-conflict' owing to habitat constraint have been troubling the villages of Goalpara, Karbi-Anglong, Sonitpur, Nalbari, Kamrup, Nagaon and Tezpur districts and its adjoining village areas. Consequently, 265 ‘Wild Asiatic Elephant' have been killed as retaliation by angry humans since, 2001, while furious villagers have killed 18 pachyderms in the year 2006. Moreover, 239 individuals died from the attack of wild jumbos in the past 15 to 20 years".
According to the Indian forest department, apart from the aforesaid reason, around 39 jumbos were killed by train in Assam during the year 1997 to 2007, while in the same period, 24, 21, 15, 15, 5, 4, 3, 2 elephants were killed in West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Tamilnadu, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Kerala and Karnataka, respectively.
Destruction by the elephants reached such a degree that able-bodied males of these villages would invariably pack off the women, children and the elderly to safer places by the start of autumn, generally the time when elephants come down the hills of the Karbi Anglong district. This year, however, there has been an exception thanks to the 'thread trick' employed by a local wildlife group named Green Guard. The trick involves fencing paddy fields with threads measuring up to 100-metres, hanging on them tiny bells that are in turn connected to vacuum horns kept in makeshift watchtowers nearby. When an elephant touches a thread, the bells and horns go off to produce a din which the animal finds intolerable, and the people thus alarmed also add to the noise.
“We have seen and then brought and implemented this particular idea following a test at Zambezi Valley of Zimbabwe four years ago. But, while wires and 'electronic bells' are used in the Zimbabwe project, we chose threads and vacuum horns to cut down on the cost", disclosed Seemanta Goswami, an activist of Green-Guard, who further revealed that the experiment has proved to be successful.
The chief wildlife warden of Eastern Indian State, Assam, M. C. Malakar admitted, "The man-elephant conflict was beginning to get out of hand, and cost-effective experiments to prevent such conflicts are welcome. The Indian Forest department has been encouraging new strategies to cut down the numbers of human-elephant conflicts".
In 2006, Assam State Forest Department used 'threads to keep elephants at bay' but the success was limited. In 2007, another trick had been played by the department i.e. world's hottest chili to keep elephant at bay. The departments of the Forest & Environment Ministry, Government of India (Assam State sector) also are erecting 'hot (Chili) fences' around paddy fields and agricultural farms in a bid to decrease man-elephant clashes.
A chili fencing needs coating wires strung around elephant-repeated paddy-fields with powdered 'Bhoot Jolokia'. Bhoot Jolokia (ethnic chili) is an agricultural product of the state. Bhoot (an ethnic term for anything with a Bhutanese origin) Jolokia is the world's 'hottest' chili measuring at about 01,001,304 scoville heat units, almost twice as hot as the previous reigning beater, the Red Savina habanero at around 05,80,000 units according to the record books. In the year, 1912, the Scoville scale was developed by a pharmacist which calculates the relative amount of water needed to neutralise the tanginess of a chilli pepper. An average Jalapeno, applied extensively in salsa, is around 10,000 heat units only. In this connection, the Forest & Environment Minister of Assam, Mr Rockybul Hussain, informed the State Assembly on 13thh November, 2007, "It is a fact that our department has begun work on this particular method - 'chili-smeared rope fencing'. This chili, which is locally known as Bhoot Jolokia are too hot even for the Asian Jumbos and our department is banking on the achievement of this pilot to reduce the man-animal conflicts. Grease and hot pepper oil prepared from Bhoot Jolokia are mixed and applied to the rope fencing. The grease acts as a waterproof coating and the instant jumbos get in contact with the thread greate annoyance is caused to the animals".
In the past, the peoples of Northeast Indian hamlets drove the elephants away by 'beating drums' or 'bursting firecrackers'. However, now the villagers often poison, electrocute or trap (in big dig covered with leaves and tress) the marauding jumbos. However, the innovative technique was effectively used in the Niassa province of Republic of Mozambique, a region identified as man-elephant conflict zone.
Legislators of the Assam state legistlative assembly also raised the issue of repeated elephant attacks in Majuli, the world's largest (populated) river island of the world’s mighty red river Brahmaputra, which is originated from Tasangpo of the Himalaya.
'Man-elephant conflict' has taken a serious turn due to a) large- scale illegal encroachment, b) destruction of elephant habitats, c) hindrance on elephant migrating routes due to illegal human habitations, d) new tea-gardens, railway-tracks and paddy-fields covering lands on elephant corridors and e) huge forest destruction for 'Jhum' and other cultivation which has created food scarcity for this peaceful animal.
"Our department has asked the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to copy our pilot project of chili fencing in a massive way in densely elephant population areas, which are in danger to jumbo depredation. We have even assured the WWF that the Assam State Government was ready to help in all possible ways if such a project was started like the one in Mozambique……",
“We are trying our best to handle the situation. The dilemma is beyond conservative control. We have already sought assistance from international specialists about the same, but the problem is that no political parties help to tackle the illegal encroachment of the elephant corridors for their vote-bank politics. Many of the Assam state's legislators are reportedly accused of settling illegal migrants on the reserve, proposed reserves, forestland as well as the animal corridors. Even, the poachers in connivance with some opportunist 'Gaon Burah' (village headman)s have illegally caught and sold out the elephants to the tea gardens and other private organizations, like zoo", claimed the environmentalists.
Notably, the Northeast India has the world's largest thickly population of wild Asiatic Elephants. In this connection, on 31st August, 2010, the Indian Environment Minister, Jairam Ramesh said, "There were over 25,000 elephant in the country, including 3,500 in captivity in zoos and temples, particularly in southern and north-eastern parts of the country. In this context, Wildlife (Protection) Act would be amended to pave way for setting up of National Elephants Conservation Authority (NECA) on the lines of the NTCA, which has been constituted for the tiger conservation, as suggested by a 12-member panel board."
It is a fact that the India is home to an estimated 25,000 wild Asiatic jumbos but their numbers are fast depleting due to poaching, loss of habitat and also train accidents, particularly in eastern and northeastern states. It is a fact that the elephants are considered sacred in Hindu-majority India and in earlier in September, 2010, the Indian Environment & Forest Ministry declared them a 'national heritage animal' that should be given the same protection as the endangered tiger. It is also noted that on 22nd September, 2010, the Hindu community of India celebrated the end of an 11-day annual festival marking the birth of 'Lord Ganesha', the revered elephant-headed god.
NB. Author is former BBC, The Statesman, The Times of India, Hindustan Times, AP & AFP contributor-cum-photographer of Northeast India who specialises in South Asia Affairs.
