A radio bulletin to check manelephant conflict
“People, be aware. A herd of 18 elephants was moving around in Dhanbad district’s Tundi block since March 26 and it could stay for a few more days.”
The warning and the information is from a unique threeminute broadcast on an FM radio channel that the Jharkhand forest department started to check growing man elephant conflicts in the state.
This special elephant bulletin — called Hamar Haathi, Hamar Saathi or My Elephant, My Friend, was aired at 4.30pm on Sunday.
The radio jockey informed listeners about the locations where herds of elephants have been spotted and the direction in which they might be headed. The jockey advised the listeners to be vigilant.
“We have tied up with a private FM channel to spread awareness about elephant movements and prevention required to reduce life and property loss,” said principal chief conservator of forest (wildlife) LR Singh, informing that the bulletin will be aired at 8.30am and 4.30pm.
Jharkhand along with Chhattisgarh and Odisha is home to 10% of the country’s elephant population, and accounts for approximately 65% of human casualties in conflicts with wild herds .
The forest department’s record says 277 people were killed by elephants in Jharkhand in the past five years. Casualties on the other side were rising too as 40 elephants were killed in the same time period.
“Timely information about elephant movement could help check man-elephant conflicts. Even as we have a WhatsApp group and elephant tracking system, the information doesn’t reach remote villagers. In a bid to inform the villagers, the elephant bulletin was started,” Singh said.