Experts rule out translocating wild elephants (State of Tamil Nadu, India) Nivedha Selvam, The Times of India December 7, 2018 An expert team led Ajay Desai, a consultant for the World Wildlife Fund and member of Asian elephants specialist group of International Union for Conservation of Nature, has suggested against translocating wild elephants – Vinayakan and Chinna Thambi – from the Thadagam Valley. The team has been camping near the valley since Monday and studying the movements of both the wild elephants. The team has also opined that the use of kumkhi elephants to chase both the wild elephants into forest would be ineffective. It cited the weight of the wild elephants higher than the kumkhis brought in to chase them into forest. The final report of the team will be submitted to the forest department on Friday. “Translocating Vinyakan and Chinna Thambi is not a solution to solve the current problem in Thadagam Valley,” said a source in the team. “Even if the wild elephants are translocated, other elephants who migrate to the region would continue entering human habitations. There is no study conducted in Tamil Nadu to know the success rate of translocation of elephants,” the source said. For the past few months, Vinayakan and Chinna Thambi have been entering human habitations and raiding farmlands in Thadagam Valley. Six people, including a forest staff, had died since the conflict began. While farmers have been demanding the forest department to translocate the wild elephants, the department has roped in Ajay Desai to recommend solution for the problem. To solve the human-elephant conflict permanently, a detailed study should be conducted to understand what drives the elephants out of forest, the source said. There might be several reasons, including loss of elephant habitat inside the forest and encroachment on elephant corridors, for the elephants to enter human habitations. “Physical barriers like elephant-proof trenches (EPT) and fencing should be strengthened to prevent elephants entering the human habitations,” the source added. In the past nine years, the elephants in the region did not migrate to other locations. Over a period, they have shrunk their home range between Marudhamalai and Palamalai. “One of the reasons might be because of the easy availability of food and water throughout the year at the farmlands,” the source said. Elephants, in general, migrate based on the availability of food and water. An official from the forest department said, “Though Chinna Thambi reacts whenever we try to chase them away with kumkhis, Vinayakan continues to ignore the kumkhis as it is bigger than them in size. Even in its musth period, Vinayakan neither searches for a partner nor mingles with herds.” “While Chinna Thambi is over 3.8 tonnes, Vinayakan is over 4.5 tonnes. Since the kumkhis are not bigger than the tuskers, it is difficult for them to drive away. Only upon deploying jumbo kumkhis along with experienced mahouts, the tuskers could be chased into forest. This is also a temporary solution only,” an expert said. Meanwhile, CCF of Coimbatore circle Deepak Srivastava said a final decision would be taken only after the recommendations were submitted by the expert team. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/coimbatore/experts-rule-out-translocating-wild-elephants/articleshow/66978295.cms ------------------------------------- This news service is provided by Save the Elephants. For further information on elephants please see Save the Elephants' web site at http://www.savetheelephants.org ------------------------------------- Disclaimer: Please note that we cannot guarantee the accuracy of any news story. In addition, we do not endorse any of the views expressed therein. We simply try to represent fairly what is in the media on elephants. If a reader finds inaccuracies in an article, we are happy to circulate corrections, if these can be verified. -------------- *Recipients: You can manage your own subscriptions, including unsubscribing, subscribing, and changing your email address, all by clicking on the appropriate listserv link below. Also, if you feel you are receiving too many emails, you can sign up for the 'Daily Digest' option. Note that archived news stories are linked to at the top of each page.* African Elephant News: http://elephantnews.org/mailman/listinfo/african-elephant_elephantnews.org Asian Elephant News: http://elephantnews.org/mailman/listinfo/asian-elephant_elephantnews.org All Scientific Papers: http://elephantnews.org/mailman/listinfo/allpapers_elephantnews.org