Habitat loss is pushing elephants out of the forests in search of food and water. As elephants have very poor eyesight, they inadvertently wander near the many open wells in human settlements. Many elephants have unfortunately fallen into these wells, causing trauma, injury, and even death. A simple set of barriers installed around open wells can go a long way towards safeguarding elephants as they move through these human-made environments.
In partnership with
Updates
In collaboration with the Wildlife Protection Society of India, VFAES constructed 100 T-shaped barricades for 100 dangerous wells in Odisha! Each large well required 10 to 25 barricades. There are thousands of open wells across India, and often times they are insidiously covered by the growth of shrubs. There’s no attempt to cover these wells across India on a state or national level.
In Odisha alone, as of July 2023, there have been almost 75 incidents of elephants falling into wells, many of them turning fatal. A young elephant was rescued in July 2023, he was one of the few lucky ones, but it proves to be tragic for many elephants. As recently as November 3rd, 2022, a female elephant died after falling into a well. Just imagine the number of lives our barricades will be saving!!
