Conflict with pachyderm pathways Premium

Kadar tribesman’s death due to an elephant attack sparks concern in Tamil Nadu

The recent death of a Kadar tribesman in Tamil Nadu’s Anamalai Tiger Reserve in an elephant attack has left the indigenous community and conservationists in shock as Kadars are known to co-exist with wild elephants for ages. This is the latest glimpse of the escalating human–elephant negative interactions in Tamil Nadu, largely stemming from reasons including habitat degradation, developmental works in forest buffers and obstructions in critical elephant movement paths or corridors, which link two or more habitats.

Taking serious note of the imminent danger, the Tamil Nadu government formed a panel to identify elephant corridors. The panel, headed by Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests V. Naganathan, reassessed the existing corridors in the State, including the ones identified in studies conducted by the Project Elephant Division of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) in the past.

Infographics | Waking to the call of the wild

The panel released a list of 42 elephant corridors a month ago and invited comments from the public on the draft report till May 5. The environmentalists hailed the report, as it doubled the number of corridors in the State against the 20 corridors identified in the Project Elephant Division’s report in 2023 and 19 corridors identified by the WTI.

The elephant population in Tamil Nadu stood at 2,961 in 26 forest divisions according to the synchronised census done in southern States in 2023. The conflict scenario is intense in Coimbatore, Gudalur, Hosur and Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR), leading to the deaths of elephants and humans.

As per the Tamil Nadu Elephant Death Audit Framework, a total of 1,593 elephants died of various reasons in the State from 2010, of which 168 were classified as ‘unnatural deaths’. Electrocution was the main cause of these unnatural deaths followed by bait bombs, poisoning, road accidents, train collisions and hunting.

Most unnatural deaths occur outside forests when elephants traverse through the forest peripheries as they prefer flat lands for movement between habitats. They often get electrocuted while trying to enter plantations protected by farmers using AC-powered illegal fences.