Electric fences placed around the Madi area could not fend off the tuskers. Training the locals in how to chase away the tuskers with power torchlights has had no positive impact either. [break]
Moreover, attempts to understand the tuskers´ abnormal behavior through detention and tracking with electronic devices have also all gone in vain.
All the precautionary efforts were initiated by the Tarai Arc Landscape (TAN) project of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) at huge expense and with manpower provided by the village development committees(VDCs) and the buffer zone forest users groups.
“We had placed 36 km of electric fencing around the four VDCs of Madi. One km of fencing costs around Rs 200,000,” said Abdul Ansari, assistant coordinator of TAL.
Despite the electric fencing, which was installed some four years ago, two locals were trampled to death by a tusker back in December of 2010. The killings were followed by the death of another local, Amar Bahadur Thapa, in Ameliya forest of Gardi VDC on November 2, 2012. All the victims´ houses were within the electric fencing.
“To strengthened the electric current we doubled the solar power for charging the fence but even that didn´t stop the tuskers from entruding and killing,” said Yama Kanta Bhusal, chief of the Pancha Pandav buffer zone users´ group. “Three more people were trampled by tuskers after the power boost,” added Bhusal.
In the course of familiarizing locals about wild tuskers, CNP had even let three domesticated tuskers, as one of them named ´Kunki,´ mingle with them.
Among the trainees, Dhan Bahadur Gurung of Dhropatinagar-9 was elated, hoping such familiarisation would dispel the daily trauma among locals, but that is not how it turned out. To his dismay, an elderly couple was killed by a tusker on April 17, 2012 in the same village.
On June 1, TAL distributed 56 powerful torchlights as it was believed they could be used to dispel the tuskers easily when encountered. At the same time, locals were trained in spotting the tuskers through GPS technology. “Sadly, all that training has brought no safety,” said Bhusal.
“We are still trying our best to improve on the security measures. Keeping the locals and tuskers apart has become our major challenge,” said Ansari.
According to Dr Narendra Pradhan, an expert on elephants, Nepal has a wild elephant population of about 170.
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