300 projects are coming up to ‘kill’ elephants

An observation made by the Assam-Orissa Elephant census task force in 2009: The man-elephant conflict is a sign of our altering biodiversity registry. It indicates man is destroying not just the traditional habitat of the elephants’ migratory route, but also destroying other smaller wildlife.

In Karnataka, the sight of wild elephants roaming the fringes of urban enclaves is not as rare as it should be. And as their natural habitat dwindles, the cities lying on its ever-shrinking fringes are becoming nightmares for these pachyderms. The highways and railways that criss-cross once pristine and verdant areas have become death roads, as human-driven vehicles and elephants merge on a collision course detrimental to the lives of both species. And if being hit by a moving vehicle isn’t bad enough, man has decided that he is the master of all he surveys and unwanted visitors must either be killed of traumatised enough that they never stray across his path again. 

According to forest department statistics, in the last year there have been over 22 man-elephant conflicts reported in the fringe areas of the Kudremukh National Park (KNP). There have been 16 sightings of wild herds in the Bhadra Wildlife reserve and 21 incidents at the Nagarahole Wildlife reserve.

“We have been reporting an increase in incidents where elephants enter villages and towns in six districts around KNP—Kodagu, Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, Hassan, Shimoga and Chikmagalur. This is due to the various project corridors (that include power wheeling systems, hydro-power projects, highways, pipeline projects, etc) fragmenting traditional elephant migratory paths,” said Niren Jain, a wildlife conservationist.

Things are going to get worse now that the government has given the green light to over 300 projects that will be either established within the Western Ghat region or on either side of it.
Gundya project blocks