Wild elephants feast on garbage heaps at Chinnakkanal

Cement Palam in Munnar turned dump yard poses death trap for elephants, prompting Forest department intervention.

Cement Palam at Chinnakkanal panchayat in Munnar, a place that once shot into fame for the capture of wild tusker Arikompan, has turned into a dump yard, posing a death trap for elephants foraging for food.

Hundreds of sacks of waste are found heaped in the area. “Wild elephants are regular visitors to this place and eat plastic and other wastes. Some people dump leftovers from weddings in the place. The salty food attracts wild elephants to the place at night,” said a source.

The Forest department has placed signages to warn the public, especially tourists, of the presence of wild elephants in the nearby eucalyptus plantations or on the roadside on the Chinnakkanal-Cement Palam route. “Rapid Response Team (RRT) members of the Forest department are also deputed to alert the commuters to the presence of wild elephants,” said the source.

A senior Forest department official said the waste dump area is part of the proposed reserve forest area at Chinnakkanal. “In November 2023, the government declared 364.39 hectares in Chinnakkanal village as a forest reserve, and a final notification is pending. Waste dumping in forest fringes attracts wild elephants. We cannot address the issue without scientific waste management methods,” said the official.

Chinnakkanal panchayat president N.M. Sreekumar said people dumped waste at night and the panchayat had launched a probe to find the offenders. “Without a treatment plant, the panchayat cannot collect garbage,” said Mr. Sreekumar.

Mr. Sreekumar said the Revenue department had allotted two acres at Chinnakkanal to set up a waste treatment plant. “To construct the plant, we need to fell 63 trees from the site for which sanction has been accorded. The work will begin soon,” said Mr. Sreekumar.

In June 2023, a video of a cow elephant and its calf feeding on waste at a dump yard at another area in Chinnakkanal went viral on social media, prompting the High Court to intervene in the issue.