The problem:
Odisha’s forests, once lush sanctuaries for elephants, are now vanishing under the relentless pressures of development, leaving these gentle giants with nowhere to turn. Starving and desperate, elephants are forced to risk their lives crossing treacherous highways, seeking food and water in villages and croplands. This tragic plight is intensifying human-elephant conflicts, with lives lost on both sides.
The 2024 Winter Elephant Census, as reported by EBharat and The Hindu, paints a heart-wrenching picture: Odisha is home to 2,103 elephants across 38 divisions, but in just six months, only five births were recorded—an unbearable contrast to the 48 deaths in the same timeframe. Over the past decade, 790 elephants have perished in Odisha, with electrocution leading as the primary cause of these unnatural deaths. In this time, conflicts have claimed 668 human lives and left 509 others injured, underscoring the shared tragedy of this crisis.
To stem this tide of devastation, we VFAE has been working 24-7 with local communities. Restoring degraded habitats by planting elephant-friendly vegetation and creating waterholes in their home ranges is offering a lifeline. These measures could prevent them from venturing into perilous human landscapes, saving them from the heartbreak of untimely deaths and preserving their legacy for generations to come.
The Solution:
VFAE has planted 50,300 elephant friendly saplings and created eight large waterholes at the trijunction of Balasore, Baripada, and Hardgarh in Odisha that serves as a critical habitat for elephants. The site is frequented by a herd of elephants, indicating that it holds significance for them. During the construction of waterholes, elephants continued to visit the area, leaving behind their footprints.
This trijunction likely boasts diverse ecological features, including a wide variety of vegetation and topography, contributing to the rich biodiversity and abundance of resources, making it an attractive habitat for elephants. VFAE partnered with Paribartan India to implement this critical project.
Meanwhile, the ground is being prepared to plant approximately 20,000 saplings in the Pallahara and Balasore range for them to blossom during the 2023 rainy season, expected by mid-July. Thanks to our generous donors for their ongoing support to help us provide basic survival needs to these beleaguered elephants.
As the harsh summer envelops vast regions of India, with temperatures soaring up to 45 degrees Celsius or 113 Fahrenheit, water sources are drying up, pushing elephants out of the forests and into the villages, intensifying human elephant conflict, and leading to tragedies. By providing enough food and water resources inside the forests, elephants will hopefully remain inside the forests.
More than 80% of elephant habitats have been lost to reckless development to sustain humans - with the population in India at 1.41 billion as of this year, surpassing China, and earning the top spot for an overcrowded country.
In 2022, VFAE partnered with the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), to grow and transplant thousands of elephant-friendly saplings in an elephant habitat adjacent to an existing corridor, aiming to ensure a safe passage for Odisha elephants and create a forest rich in biodiversity. A total of 11,000 seedlings were reared and 90% have survived in their transplanted locations.
As forest resources in Odisha rapidly dwindle due to development pressures, distressed and famished elephants are forced to enter villages and cropland in search of food, by crossing major highways. This is intensifying human elephant conflict and causing an unprecedented number of elephant deaths by vehicle collisions. Restoring degraded habitats with favored elephant plant species will provide safe foraging grounds for elephants and prevent them from crossing treacherous roads to find food.
Human-elephant conflict is escalating in Dhenkanal district, with an alarming rise in senseless tragedies, mainly caused by the decimation of prime elephant habitats and a decline in elephant forage species. Consequently, distressed elephants are forced to cross national highways and villages in search of food leading to fatal collisions with speeding vehicles. Some of the factors fuelling the destruction include development, tree felling for timber, and nontimber products collection for humans.
Part of the plan involves the purchase of a 1-acre-plot of land to create a plant nursery and grow 50,000 to 60,000 seedlings of elephant fodder plants, such as Bauhinia vines, jackfruit, and mango. Our site-specific strategy in the Dhenkanal region of Odisha will enable us to nurture and protect saplings from cattle grazing and fire damage for at least two growing seasons. Once the plants mature, we will engage Odisha forest department and local people to plant them in the surrounding forests.
Curbing elephant deaths by growing elephant fodder and planting them inside their habitats could prevent elephants from crossing treacherous highways. It is a proactive rather than a reactive measure to safeguard elephants and mitigate human-elephant conflict. In collaboration with our local partner Wildlife Protection Society of India -WPSI we will engage villagers and the forest department to help cultivate stewardship of elephants and their habitats paving the way to a harmonious coexistence.
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