Help Save Elephants in India

Greetings from Wildlife Trust of India!

Thank you so much for making a donation to our project ‘Help Save Elephants in India’. Your support is highly valued as it helped us reduce the impact of Human-elephant conflict around the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve. Here’s an update on activities conducted with your support.

Located in the Western Ghats, Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve is a significant wildlife corridor in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. It forms a link between the five protected areas it connects - the Biligiriranga Swamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary, Sigur Plateau, Mudumalai National Park, Bandipur National Park and Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary. This also allows gene flow between the diverse wildlife between Eastern and Western Ghats.

As per a 2017 survey conducted by the Forest Department, the reserve is home to 772 elephants. However, the sharing of same resources often leads to negative interactions between humans and elephants phrased the Human Elephant conflict. The forest department receives multiple complaints of crop raiding by elephants from the local community on a day to day basis. To address the issue, the forest department has engaged anti-depredation watchers in addition to the regular field staff to monitor elephant herd movements and keep the community safe from any mishaps.

The anti-depredation squads mostly work in night shifts and were in need of torchlights for patrolling. With your support, WTI has provided 30 torchlights to the squad. The District Forest Officer has informed that the torches have been quite useful in deterring elephants on a daily basis especially in the ranges of Talamalai, Vilamundi, Bhavanisagar, Kadambur and Sathyamangalam.

Such simple solutions and small efforts often smoothen the process and contribute significantly to preventing major conservation challenges such as the Human Elephant Conflict.

That’s all for today. We will soon be back with more updates for you. Till then, take care!

Warm Regards,

Team WTI