Maharashtra: Vigil stepped up as state’s jumbo guests go after paddy

This is a new phenomenon for local communities and the forest department, given that Gondia’s forests have no record of an elephant presence for centuries

With the paddy crop harvested, forest department officials in Gadchiroli, Gondia, and Navegaon have intensified the patrolling and monitoring of the herd of 23 elephants, which has come to Maharashtra from Chhattisgarh, as they might enter villages in search of grains.

Sagnik Sengupta, an elephant expert and co-founder of NGO Stripes and Green Earth Foundation (SAGE), said his team and forest staff are present on the ground to restrict the movement of the herd towards villages.

Sengupta said, "Over the past few days, the herd is doing movement by only late afternoon and by evening heading towards villages. In some places, paddy is still there in the field which they have eaten, but mostly paddy has been harvested so movement will now be towards villages. It is important to patrol and block these movements."

On the night of November 15, he said, the elephants entered the Jambhali village in Gondia. Moving swiftly, the volunteers from the NGO and forest officials pushed back the jumbos towards the forest. The SAGE team has started a fundraiser to acquire 600 flashlights that will come in handy in reducing man-animal conflicts.

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In October 2021, a herd of elephants entered the state's Gadchiroli district from Chhattisgarh. While the elephants went back to Chhattisgarh in March 2022, they returned to Gadchiroli in August 2022 before moving towards Gondia in September.

This is a new phenomenon for local communities and the forest department, given that Gondia's forests have no record of an elephant presence for centuries. Officials said elephants are leaving Chhattisgarh possibly due to mining and the destruction of their habitats. But this has also raised concerns over human-animal conflicts in Maharashtra.

Amid signs of the elephants warming up to Gondia, experts said, steps must be taken to ensure the safety of the animals as well as local people. SAGE Foundation is also holding workshops and conducting awareness programmes to help the forest staff prepare better to face the jumbo job. India has nearly 27,000 elephants. "That is a 98 per cent drop from a million that lived in India just a decade ago," said the expert. Experts said elephants venture into human settlements in search of food, resulting in conflicts.

"We intend to equip the villagers with flashlights and train them on how to use flashlights to push back the elephants. Already in this migration of the elephants, there have been two death incidents, one each in Gondia and Gadchiroli districts. To avoid further conflicts, the villagers need to be equipped and trained. The money raised through the fundraiser will be used to provide flash torches to the villagers and teams who are responsible for safely guiding elephants back into the forests when they stray into human habitation areas. We will provide regular updates on the distribution and usage of the flashlights with geo locations," added Sengupta.

23
No of elephants in the herd

27,000
Estimated no. of elephants in India