In a bid to contain man-elephant conflict in the state, the forest department has come up with a novel idea. It is planning to put up a bee barrier to prevent the jumbos from entering human habitations. Bee swarms will attack the elephants as soon as they try to raid a village or other human habitation. The Forest department has decided to take up this project in collaboration with the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) on a pilot basis in Angul district.
According to media reports, the project called RE-HAB (Reducing Elephants Human Attack Using Bees) is being tested in Laxmipur and Rathipur villages of Athamalik forest division. Depending upon its impact and feasibility, it will be tried out in other areas. As part of the project, around 100 bee boxes have been placed on fences along the elephant passages near the two villages. The moment the pachyderms try to break the fence barrier bees from the boxes will attack them, thus pushing them back.
The KVIC and Athamalik forest division have also installed adequate camera traps to study the reaction of the elephants to the presence of bees on their path. Forest officials believe that bees can be effectively used to prevent human-elephant conflict which would save the lives of both humans and jumbos. It will also help prevent damage to crops by elephant herds.
Man-elephant war remains one of the major worries of forest officials and environmentalists working in Odisha. While it has taken a heavy toll of lives on both sides, the damage to crops and houses has been massive. The state government has been paying compensation both for the loss of human lives and the destruction of crops and houses by elephant herds.
In rural areas prone to attacks by elephant herds, people often turn vindictive and try to kill the pachyderms in various ways. Apart from shooting down elephants, they also try to kill them by pulling down high-voltage overhead wires along elephant pathways in forests. The jumbos often come in contact with the live wires lying on the ground and get electrocuted. This is the cruellest way of killing them and the most difficult to prevent. In the past, forest officials have held several meetings with energy officials in a bid to check such incidents, but success continues to elude them.
Poachers also take advantage of such situations and de-tusk dead elephants in forest areas. Elephant tusks fetch handsome prices in the international market. This is a sad situation, but the government is struggling to find an effective way of reducing man-elephant conflict. Forest officials fervently hope that the bee experiment succeeds in keeping the pachyderms away from human habitations, thus preventing the chance of a conflict.
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