Living with elephants in Samdrupcholing Neten Dorji, Kuensel Online July 18, 2024 Villagers of Phuntshothang in Samdrupcholing dungkhag have been spending sleepless nights for more than a month with elephants, sometimes 10 in a herd, encroaching their village foraging for food. The wild herd has restricted movement of villagers after dusk while keeping villagers awake the whole night to fend off the jumbo menace. They are resorting to local solutions to ward off the elephants. “We stay awake all night to chase away elephants by beating drums and lighting bonfires,” said a villager. Settlements along the Indo-Bhutan corridor are under constant threats from wildlife, especially elephants. Residents said that although a patrol team from the Gewog Forest Office, with the help of the locals, has been helping to ward off elephant attacks, it has not helped. They are asking for a long-term plan to control the menace. Elephants, a villager said, usually take refuge in the community forest when people from across the border chased them away. Chandra Bdr Gurung, 70, said he goes to bed praying every night for the safety of his family. “We have small children here and it would be dangerous if the elephants attack our home at night,” he said. Tashi, who takes turns with his neighbours to keep guard at night, has given up growing crops in his nine-acre field. He used to harvest about 90 sacks of rice from his field, but now even getting 30 is farfetched. Farmers across the border use “chilli bombs” as a stopgap measure. The elephants with their very sensitive trunks dreaded the fiery smell and it worked well as an effective measure. Bhutanese farmers believe that poaching and destruction of elephant habitat across the border forced the animals to seek refuge in Bhutan. Samdrupjongkhar DT chairperson and gup of Phuntshothang gewog, Jamyang Gyeltshen, said that his gewog and other four gewogs of Pemathang, Samrang, and Langchenphu gewogs are most vulnerable. “The herd of elephants found a safe sanctuary in these gewogs because development activities have destroyed their habitat both in the country and across the border area,” he said. “Most of the time, they stay near human settlements to take refuge from humans when their calves are small.” Efforts from Jomotsangkha Wildlife Sanctuary Officials from Jomotsangkha Wildlife Sanctuary(JWS) said mitigation measures were being adopted in habitat areas in Samdrupjongkhar to address the human-elephant conflict. Forestry officials, for instance, are patrolling day and night in places frequently encroached by elephants. Building barriers such as an electric fence, monitoring the elephants to understand habitat preference and migratory habits, habitat improvements initiatives such as digging waterholes and fodder enrichment were carried out in elephant habitat areas. “About 200 acres of land were designated for fodder enrichment for elephants, which prevents them from encroaching into human settlements,” said an official. “We received a good response from villagers after the fodder enrichment was carried out.” He said that quick response teams were formed in different gewogs to address the elephant problem. https://kuenselonline.com/living-with-elephants-in-samdrupcholing/