HASSAN: The office of the Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF), Hassan division, has sent a Rs. 79-lakh proposal for translocating 20 elephants, which are damaging crops and trampling people to death.

According to sources in the Forest Department, this proposal is the outcome of a high-level meeting conducted by Minister for Forests, Ecology and Environment C. Chennigappa on June 14 in Hassan. Nine persons were trampled to death by rogue elephants in the last three years. Besides these nine persons, a rogue elephant trampled Jayamma (50) of Manipura village to death in Bysore forest area, which comes under Kodagu district.

The Forest Department has paid a compensation of Rs. 57.6 lakh for both deaths and crop damage in the last three years.

Short-term measures

To contain the menace, the DCF has proposed six short-term measures such as erecting 60 km solar fencing and digging of a trench along the forest boundary to prevent elephants from entering into private lands, providing more vehicles, arms and walkie-talkies to the forest staff to act swiftly, construction of 43 check-dams and five nala bunds and removal of silt in various tanks in the forest to ensure drinking water for wild elephants, increase compensation to relatives of those who die in elephant attacks and to those who are disabled permanently, and to farmers for crop loss.

The DCF also proposes to capture and translocate all the 20 wild elephants to Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary, which can accommodate another 200 elephants, according to sources.

Habitat destroyed

A senior official told The Hindu that the wild elephants were migrating from the adjacent Kodagu and Mysore districts to Alur, Sakleshpur and Arkalgud taluks of Hassan district due to various reasons. Construction of dams across the Cauvery and the Hemavathi from 1974 to 1982 resulted in submergence of elephant habitat in Kodagu and Mysore districts. Flowering of bamboo in the forest areas led to the drying of bamboo crop, which was a staple food for elephants. Droughts for three successive years forced wild elephants to migrate to greener areas of Hassan and Hemavathi.

Illicit liquor

Besides food, it was clandestine manufacturing of illicit liquor in forest areas, which was attracting the elephants. The inebriated elephants had started attacking people, he added.

He also said that a herd of 20 elephants was stationed in the coffee estates and were living on the crops on surrounding land in Malnad areas in the district. Despite the department establishing squads to scare away the elephants, the animals were in no mood to budge. The department was likely to capture these 20 elephants in Kattepura and Doddabetta forest area with the help of experts after the monsoon.

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