How to reduce human-jumbo conflict without harming either Sreedhar Vijayakrishnan, Times of India March 12, 2024 See link <https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/how-to-reduce-human-jumbo-conflict-without-harming-either/amp_articleshow/108430899.cms> for photos. It is said in the Matangalila, the ancient Sanskrit work on the behaviour of elephants, that the King of Anga ordered elephants to be captured to prevent them from raiding crops. This was at a time when proactive management strategies never existed. Still, centuries later, despite scientific and technological advancements, capture is still considered the go-to option when it comes to managing the conundrums at the human-elephant interface. Human-elephant conflict (HEC) has become one of the greatest challenges faced by managers, conservationists and scientists alike. Ranging from extensive crop losses to episodic human deaths, the facets of HEC have negatively affected the tolerance towards the species in most landscapes. While management needs to be more proactive and balanced, addressing losses on both sides, it has often been biased towards people-centric measures, resulting in the ideology of ridding an area of its elephants. Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu hold some of the largest populations of the species and witness fairly high levels of conflict. Mitigation techniques adopted are reactive, where elephants captured are either taken to captivity or translocated. There is a complete overlook of the survival and fitness of the individuals involved. Techniques that ignore or do not take into consideration animal behaviour while managing conflict are bound to fail. Translocated elephants have either created more problems at the release site or in other areas as part of their exploratory movements, and eventually ended in captivity, or have died. Also, capture for translocation or captivity is often carried out haphazardly with complete disregard for elephant behaviour and their complex sociality, and such removals tend to cause social disruption to the population. Removal of prime adult bulls could also possibly influence the behaviour of the younger males in the population. Translocations are a common management technique in countries such as Malaysia, Sri Lanka and India, with dozens of examples illustrating its failure. Yet another aspect is also the laxity in post-translocation monitoring. Wildlife does not have administrative boundaries and any management decision, especially when involving frontier areas, requires collective planning and action. Drive operations (where elephants are chased using vehicles, loud noise and fire torches) are the next measure adopted, which are confrontational, and if carried out indiscriminately can lead to behavioural changes in elephants, making management more challenging. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/how-to-reduce-human-jumbo-conflict-without-harming-either/amp_articleshow/108430899.cms