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Watchtowers coming up to ward off stray jumbos
In about a year’s time more than two dozen elephants have died due to various natural and manmade reasons in Coimbatore Forest Division (part of Coimbatore district excluding Pollachi and Anamalai areas that come under Anamalai Tiger Reserve). On the other hand more than a dozen humans have been trampled to death by elephants and an equal number were lucky to escape with injuries.
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Coimbatore
The worst of them was the incident on June 2, when a sub adult male jumbo strayed out of the Madukkarai forest on the outskirts of the city and walked nearly 12 km to Vellalore in the city killing four persons on its way and injuring many more on that day.
Taking the issue seriously, the Chief Wildlife Warden (CWW) of the Forest Department took special interests and wanted to mitigate the conflicts through innovative means.
On his direction, a detailed report on that incident and recent incidents in Coimbatore were submitted and Rs 11.3 lakh was sanctioned to stop entry of elephants into human habitations.
“Works to establish 15 wooden watchtowers on the paths through which they regularly walk out of the forest and enter human habitations have been expedited and it will help drive the jumbos back to the forest,” Conservator of Forests for Coimbatore Circle S Ramasubramanian told DTNext.
In the first phase, 10 such watchtowers will be erected in the four forest sub divisions – Madukkarai, Coimbatore, Periyanaickenpalayam and Mettupalayam – where man-animal conflicts are very high.
“The wooden watchtowers are located on the elephant paths between the human habitations and the forest to spot the jumbos and intervene,” he said. Each facility will be equipped with a floodlight, a generator and a hooter (sound emanating device). Since, most elephants usually stray into human habitations at night and during the wee hours of the day, the forest department’s watch towers will be manned by field staff in the rank of forest watcher, guard or anti poaching watcher.
Early this year, more than Rs 1 crore was sanctioned for Coimbatore Circle comprising parts of Coimbatore and The Nilgiris districts to fight the drought by making adequate water sources in the forest.
It was assumed that jumbos and other wild animals would not stray out of the forest with this arrangement. But, the animals proved the officials wrong and a host of other measures to stop jumbos entering human habitations also went in vain. Officials hope that the new arrangement will help them contain the conflicts.
Sensors, cameras installed near railway track to prevent elephant deaths
A series of jumbo deaths were reported on the track in Coimbatore division last June, after more than six years. While two elephants were knocked down by trains on the Madukkarai to Walayar stretch in Coimbatore district, at least three were killed by speeding trains on the other side of the track between Walayar and Palakkad during the same period.
Following the recurrence of such accidents, Forest Department initiated many measures to prevent trains from getting derailed after hitting a jumbo. They had laid a mud ramp on either side of the track, so that the elephants could cross the track at ease, even when a train is on the move in the Madukkarai Range section. Now, efforts are under way to fully equip the newly constructed two storied watchtower close to the ramp.
“Work is on to fit four sensors on both sides of ‘Line B’ close to the ramp. These sensors will be 250 metres away from the track and it will send alerts to forest department officials and the railway control room at Palakkad, when a jumbo or herd is approaching the track,” a senior forest officer said. The railway control room will immediately alert the loco pilot approaching that stretch of the track to slow down. On the other hand, the team of anti poaching watchers, who will be stationed at the watchtower, will initiate efforts to drive the elephants away from the track. The Forest Department is also installing cameras close to the track for round the clock monitoring of elephant movements from a monitor installed at the watchtower. The department is also in the process of getting a dedicated helpline number using which people in residential areas in the vulnerable zones can report about elephant attacks round the clock for timely action.
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