The Gudalur Forest Division is all set to send SMS alerts to local residents as part of their strategy to mitigate human-elephant conflict in the region.
V.C. Rahul, District Forest Officer (Gudalur Forest Division), told The Hindu that the system, which was already in use in other parts of Tamil Nadu, would hopefully bring down the number of injuries and fatalities resulting from conflicts between humans and elephants in the region.
According to Forest Department officials, eight persons have died as a result of conflict in the Gudalur-Pandalur belt this year.
The Forest Department has studied the pattern of the movement of elephant herds over the last one year, and has identified the key conflict zones in the division. “If an elephant is spotted near a village, an SMS alert will be sent to the villagers informing them of the presence of the animal, so that they do not venture out after dark,” said Mr. Rahul.
The messages will be sent to the villages around which the elephants are spotted once in the evening and at night as well, along with the phone number of the forest watcher or guard who is keeping tabs on the movement of the animals. “This way, people can call the forest staff and check whether the elephants have moved away, if they need to leave their homes in case of an emergency,” said Mr. Rahul.
The SMS alert system will also prove to be useful for people who are unable to read, with a pre-recorded voice message instead delivering the information to residents. Moreover, with the mobile phone reception in Gudalur and Pandalur being poor, the Forest Department has also planned to set up “light alarm systems” in remote communities that can be set off to warn people about the presence of elephant herds. Thus far, more than 800 people have signed up in the different villages across the Gudalur-Pandalur belt to receive the messages.
“We hope that over the next few months, people will get used to the early-warning system, and there would be a reduction in the number of conflicts in 2019 and the coming years,” said Mr. Rahul.