Bhubaneswar: Human-elephant conflict is growing by the day in Odisha. Now to prevent the pachyderms from entering human localities and destroying crops and properties, the Odisha government has come up with an innovative idea. It is planning to use bee swarms to prevent the elephants from entering human habitats.
Officials of the Forest department informed that such an experiment has been successfully conducted both in the forests of South Africa and Assam. Getting to know that bees can prevent elephants from entering human habitats, Forest department officials in Odisha have decided to implement the method.
Officials said the boxes filled with a large number of bees will be kept on the routes that elephants are known to frequent. Strings, like they are used in booby traps, will be attached to the boxes. When an elephant breaks the string, the box will automatically open. A large number of bees will then attack the elephants. It would indeed be a fascinating sight to watch the largest mammal on land seeking shelter to escape one of the smallest insects.
Speaking about the new innovation, PCCF (Principal Chief Conservator of Forests) Sashi Paul said, “It is said that the bees can scare elephants away. If the pilot project achieves success, we will expand the model throughout Odisha where the pachyderms regularly cause havoc and lead to loss of human lives.”
Officials also said that efforts are on to track the movement of elephant herds with the help of GPS-enabled radio collars. Sources said that experts of Indian Institute of Science (Bangalore) are working on this project with officials of the state Forest department.
Sources said that efforts will be made to tranquilise two wild elephants in Chandaka sanctuary and four in the Similipal range. If that is done, then the movement of the entire herd can be tracked. They said that the aim will be to target the largest or the strongest elephant of a herd as the others follow it. Experts are optimistic about the success of this method as it has proved to be successful in other states.
“The radio collar will definitely help in locating elephants which wreak havoc in villages and destroy crops. Officials of the Forest department will find it easy to monitor herds and drive them away when they are close to human habitats,” said an elephant trainer.
It is pertinent to mention here that at least 282 elephants have died in the last three years, while 921 persons have lost their lives in Odisha to elephant attacks in the last decade.