The Forest department will create WhatsApp groups and share live locations of wild elephants under the Munnar Forest Division to address human-elephant conflicts. According to officials, 39 wild elephants, including nine calves, were camping under the Munnar and Devikulam forest ranges on Thursday.
A senior forest official said six WhatsApp groups would be created under the Munnar and Devikulam range offices.
In four languages
“The six locations are Bodimettu, Devikulam, Thalayar, Mattuppetty, Pothamedu, and Lakshmi. The plantation company field officer and local body ward members are among the admins of these groups. Two Forest department watchers will provide live locations of the wild elephants in each location in Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi, and English,” said the official.
“As per the live location, the wild tusker Padayappa is camping at the Neyamakkad area near Munnar on Thursday. Another tusker, Chakkakompan, is roaming in Thondimala Ambasamudram, and Murivalankompan at Thondimala,” said the official.
Moving to safety
“When aware of the presence of wild elephants, people can easily move to safer places,” said the official. According to Forest department officials, two drones will be brought to the Munnar Division to monitor the movements of wild elephants in Munnar and Devikulam from Friday onwards. “The drones will help spot the location of wild elephants easily,” said the official.
According to officials, the Forest department strengthened initiatives to prevent wild elephant attacks after a high-level meeting of officials held in Munnar on Wednesday evening. Munnar witnessed heavy protests after Suresh Kumar, 45, was killed and two injured in an attack by a wild elephant at Kannimala Top under the Kanan Devan Hills Plantations (KDHP) near Munnar on Monday night.
