A total of 37 Forest Department staff, from five tiger reserves and other forest ranges in Tamil Nadu, will undergo a seven-day hands-on training programme on ‘Man Animal Conflict’ at the State Forest Training Institute at Hijli in West Bengal, from January 22 to 28.
A Government Order issued by the Environment, Climate Change and Forest Department dated January 3, 2024 said the programme is being organised for a batch of Assistant Conservators of Forests, Forestry Extension Officers, Forest Range Officers, Foresters, Biologists and Ecologists.
The order said N. Venkatesh Prabhu, District Forest Officer, Erode, will be the programme co-ordinator while P. Manikanda Prabhu, Assistant Director, Arignar Anna Zoological Park will be the deputy programme co-ordinator and R. Ravi, Forest Range Officer, Soolagiri Range, Krishnagiri Social Forestry Division, will be the facilitator for the training programme.
Training will be on the use of chemical immobilisation for mitigation of human elephant conflict, minimising damage and casualties in conflict, inter-departmental coordination in successful management of conflict, discussion on case studies on field-based management and technique in mitigation of conflict, sharing of field experiences and issues related to conflict in West Bengal. Discussions on identification of elephants, their behaviour and standard operating procedures in handling conflicts, techniques in tracking elephants and use of modern tools and technologies and studying techniques in mitigation, will also be part of the trianing.
The team will have two days of field exposure in Jhargram forest division and Paschim Medinipur and Bankuri district on January 25 and 26, and will study elephant proof trenchs, the use of elephant-tracking cameras and visit elephant corridor routes and railway signage along the route.
