Time to tame

Guwahati, Oct. 15: Assam’s trained elephants — experts in chasing herds of wild pachyderms from human habitats — will be taken to Orissa and Chhattisgarh to help the two states tackle the rising menace of the man-elephant conflict.

The two states sought the Assam forest department’s help to tackle the crisis.

Assam’s principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) Suresh Chand told The Telegraph today that Chhattisgarh has selected a few trained elephants, known as kunkis.

Forest department personnel from Orissa will arrive in Assam soon for the selection.

The development has come as a ray of hope for the kunkis and their mahouts in Assam, as this would be a source of income for them. Trained elephants and mahouts in Assam were jobless after the Supreme Court ban on felling in 1996.

Assam has the highest number of domestic elephants (more than 1,000), and training them is a tradition.

It is a common practice in the state to use trained elephants to chase away their wild counterparts from human habitat. The state also has the highest number of wild elephants in the country, estimated around 5,000.

The chief conservator of forests (wildlife) of Chhattisgarh, R.K. Tamta, said the state had requested Assam to provide trained elephants a few months ago. “Forest officials from our state had visited Assam a few times and the process is on,” he said.

An official in the Orissa forest department said the Wildlife Trust of India suggested borrowing the trained elephants from Assam. “The NGO is helping the forest department check the increasing man-elephant conflict in the state,” he said. An increase in human activity on the elephant’s regular migratory routes had resulted in a spurt in the conflict, he added.

A forest official in Udalguri district of Assam said the request from other states has come as a blessing for the owners of trained elephants. “This would be a good source of income for the owners,” he said.

The owner of an elephant charges Rs 25,000 per month to chase away wild herds. Uladguri, the worst sufferer of man-elephant conflicts in recent times, has been using kunkis for years.