With the annual migration season of elephants nearing its peak in the Valparai plateau, the Forest Department, non governmental organisations like the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) and residents of the hill station are all prepared to ensure free movement of the pachyderms.
At present, nearly 100 elephants are moving along plantation areas in the plateau, which include tea, coffee and cardamom estates, swamps, abandoned fields, eucalyptus patches and forest fragments inside estates. The number is expected to increase when the migration peaks between January and February.
Accustomed to the annual migration of elephants from the Kerala side, residents of the plateau and estate workers have learnt the way to avoid negative interactions between the large herbivores.
According to the Forest Department, the last human death due to elephant attack in the plateau was reported in June 2021.
The migration of elephants from the Kerala side starts in September and Valparai’s mosaic landscape of estates and fragmented forest patches serves as key habitats for them. The migration ends by March.
A lot of factors, including rain, availability of grass and people’s behaviour towards elephants, influence their migration movement, said Ganesh Raghunathan, Senior Programme Manager with NCF, which has been documenting elephant migration in the Valparai plateau since 2002.
“A team of three people visit plantation areas and collect the numbers of elephants on a daily basis as part of NCF’s ongoing study. Alerts on elephant movement are sent to people based on these data,” he said.
NCF started its early warning system by sending alerts through local cable TV networks in 2007, which was upgraded to SMS alerts and warning lights in multiple locations in 2011.
Though the number of elephants in plantation areas alone stood nearly 100 as of Wednesday, there could be over 200 elephants in the reserve forest areas of the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) spread across Valparai and Manambolly ranges. “Being a free ranging animal, they move between forests and plantations,” added Mr. Raghunathan.
The Forest Department is also closely monitoring the elephant movement as its biologists collect data in the morning and evening daily. The department has deployed around 60 frontline staff to monitor elephants during the migration season and avoid negative interactions between residents.
“We have created youth groups in selected villages in Valparai and Manambolly ranges. Details of elephant movement are shared on WhatsApp groups, namely ‘Thadam’, that ensure two way communication between Forest Department and the people,” said K. Bhargava Teja, TR Deputy Director of Pollachi Division of ATR.
A. Sudhakar, a resident of Cinchona near Valparai, said awareness created by the department among the people also helped in reducing the negative interactions.
“Earlier, people used to throw firecrackers and stones at elephants to chase them. Now they have learnt the way to give space for elephants. In fact, all these places were once forests,” said Mr. Sudhakar, a former ward councillor, who has been observing the human-animal conflict situation for decades.
