Preventing deadly elephant attacks with a new app (Nepal)

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stenews
Sat, Mar 11, 2023 6:01 PM

Preventing deadly elephant attacks with a new app (Nepal)
Diwash Gahatraj, Rest of World
March 10, 2023

Bahundangi, a village in the Jhapa district of Nepal, regularly makes
headlines for its human-animal conflicts. Tuskers enter the 1,800-household
village from the Mechi River crossing, a transborder river flowing through
Nepal and India. In the last 10 years, at least 53 people have died in
elephant attacks, while 13 elephants have been killed.

When you log into the app the first time, it asks you if you’ll be using it
as a user or as an admin.

As a user, if you try to send out a “Hatti Ayo!” alert, the app confirms if
you want to do so. If you click “Aako Ho,” meaning “yes,” the app notifies
admins via SMS.

The “Hatti Ayo!” button on the user’s homescreen.

Now, a mobile app, Hatti Ayo (translation: “Elephant is coming”), is being
used to avoid wild elephant attacks in the region. The app is installed on
the phones of a group of volunteers led by Shankar Luitel Chettri — an
elephant conservationist and resident of Bahundangi — who track elephant
movement in the area.

Whenever someone detects elephant movement in the village, they push a
button on the app that reads “Hatti Ayo!” A message reaches the villagers,
through app notifications and SMS, as well as the Armed Police Force
outpost, where officers set off an alarm that’s audible for up to 1
kilometer, signaling the entry of an elephant. The system at the outpost
has a microphone that helps officers announce the exact location of the
elephant or its herd. “Our idea was to make a very simple but fast early
warning system which could be used offline … as internet connectivity is
weak in the village,” Sandeep Niraula, the app’s Frankfurt-based Nepali
software developer, told Rest of World.

“Traditionally, to scare away elephants from entering the village, we’d
light firecrackers, beat plastic drums, blow trumpets, bang tin plates,
light a blazing torch, or yell. This noise distraction also helps to create
a warning alert to residents to remain indoors,” Chettri told Rest of
World. But in the past, missed warning signals have resulted in the loss of
human lives and property.

Bahundangi falls on a migratory route where generations of wild elephants
have been moving for centuries from Assam in India — through the lowlands
of Bhutan and North Bengal — to Nepal, in search of food and water. The app
helps in ensuring safe movement for the elephants as well.

Besides Bahundangi, the mobile app is also in use in the buffer zone of the
Bardiya National Park, Nepal’s largest national park.

https://restofworld.org/2023/bento-app-hatti-ayo/

Preventing deadly elephant attacks with a new app (Nepal) Diwash Gahatraj, Rest of World March 10, 2023 Bahundangi, a village in the Jhapa district of Nepal, regularly makes headlines for its human-animal conflicts. Tuskers enter the 1,800-household village from the Mechi River crossing, a transborder river flowing through Nepal and India. In the last 10 years, at least 53 people have died in elephant attacks, while 13 elephants have been killed. When you log into the app the first time, it asks you if you’ll be using it as a user or as an admin. As a user, if you try to send out a “Hatti Ayo!” alert, the app confirms if you want to do so. If you click “Aako Ho,” meaning “yes,” the app notifies admins via SMS. The “Hatti Ayo!” button on the user’s homescreen. Now, a mobile app, Hatti Ayo (translation: “Elephant is coming”), is being used to avoid wild elephant attacks in the region. The app is installed on the phones of a group of volunteers led by Shankar Luitel Chettri — an elephant conservationist and resident of Bahundangi — who track elephant movement in the area. Whenever someone detects elephant movement in the village, they push a button on the app that reads “Hatti Ayo!” A message reaches the villagers, through app notifications and SMS, as well as the Armed Police Force outpost, where officers set off an alarm that’s audible for up to 1 kilometer, signaling the entry of an elephant. The system at the outpost has a microphone that helps officers announce the exact location of the elephant or its herd. “Our idea was to make a very simple but fast early warning system which could be used offline … as internet connectivity is weak in the village,” Sandeep Niraula, the app’s Frankfurt-based Nepali software developer, told Rest of World. “Traditionally, to scare away elephants from entering the village, we’d light firecrackers, beat plastic drums, blow trumpets, bang tin plates, light a blazing torch, or yell. This noise distraction also helps to create a warning alert to residents to remain indoors,” Chettri told Rest of World. But in the past, missed warning signals have resulted in the loss of human lives and property. Bahundangi falls on a migratory route where generations of wild elephants have been moving for centuries from Assam in India — through the lowlands of Bhutan and North Bengal — to Nepal, in search of food and water. The app helps in ensuring safe movement for the elephants as well. Besides Bahundangi, the mobile app is also in use in the buffer zone of the Bardiya National Park, Nepal’s largest national park. https://restofworld.org/2023/bento-app-hatti-ayo/