All three human deaths in O’Valley caused by different elephants, say officials

Residents blame it on the single tusker

Forest Department officials confirmed that all three human deaths in O’Valley in Gudalur over the last two months were caused by three different elephants, and not by a single tusker, as alleged by local residents.

The investigation follows the recent death of a man in the region a few days ago, and after two deaths during the end of May of this year. “Local residents are demanding that the Forest Department capture the tusker known as OVT-1, alleging that this elephant is responsible for all three deaths,” said a top official who spoke to The Hindu.

“Our investigation has revealed that OVT-1 might have been responsible in only one of the three incidents, while the other two are most likely to be two completely different elephants,” said D. Venkatesh, Conservator of Forests (Nilgiris).

The identification of the elephant or elephants involved in the three incidents was extremely important as this would dictate how the department would formulate its strategy to mitigate human-elephant interactions in O’Valley.

“If a single elephant was responsible for all three incidents, the department would seriously consider capturing and relocating the animal. However, O’Valley has a high density of elephants, and is an important corridor linking Mudumalai and Bandipur with Nilambur and Wayanad in Kerala. We now know that all three incidents were caused by different animals, and removing one animal from the landscape will have no real effect in mitigating negative interactions between elephants and humans,” added Mr. Venkatesh.

The conservator had discussions with the District Collector about the increase in human-elephant conflicts in the region recently. He said that the Forest Department was working on a “permanent solution” to the problem. The entire length of the corridor, linking Thorapalli to O’Valley, would be studied so that the department could formulate a more effective strategy to prevent such incidents.

Till then, kumkis from the Theppakadu elephant camp and the department staff would be stationed in the area to drive away elephants that enter human habitations, said officials.