Expert committee formed to study negative human-elephant interactions in Gudalur

The committee’s priority would be to reach out to local stakeholders and devise measures to minimize the chances of negative interactions

The state government has formed an expert committee to study negative human-elephant interactions in Gudalur forest division and to come up with “holistic, long-term solutions.”

The constitution of the committee comes after a recent increase in human deaths attributed to elephant attacks in O-Valley in Gudalur. The committee comprises of senior forest department officials, including the Conservator of Forests and Field Director of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, D. Venkatesh, who is the chairman of the committee, and Kommu Omkaram, the District Forest Officer (Gudalur Division), another member and co-ordinator.

Its members are researchers and wildlife biologists. B. Ramakrishnan, assistant professor in wildlife biology at the government arts college in Udhagamandalam, D. Boominathan, the Worldwide Fund for Nature’s (WWF-India) landscape co-ordinator for the Nilgiris, Tarsh Thekaekara, Managing Trustee of the Shola Trust and Dr. K. Ramesh, Scientist from the Wildlife Institute of India.

Mr. Venkatesh told The Hindu the committee has been speaking to local residents, politicians and tea plantation owners to understand the key drivers of negative human-elephant interactions in the division. “The first priority would be to reach out to local stakeholders and understand what measures can be undertaken to minimize the chances of negative interactions,” he said. There had been demands by local communities for physical barriers to be put up to stop elephants from straying into human settlements.

“We will study the feasibility of such barriers, taking into account the welfare of elephants first and foremost, and ensuring that the barriers do not restrict elephant movement between different habitats,” said Mr. Venkatesh.

According to Mr. Omkaram, solutions to the issue would require various strategies, not restricted to physical barriers between humans and elephants. The first step would be the committee studying the landscape, understanding the problems and then coming up with solutions that can be implemented to mitigate interactions between humans and elephants.