'Caution' signboards help save elephants in Garo Hills

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Arpan Sharma

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Sunday, August 17, 2008 6:38 PM

'Caution' signboards help save elephants in Garo Hills

 

 

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080811/jsp/northeast/story_9675831.jsp

 

'Caution' signboards help save elephants

ROOPAK GOSWAMI

Guwahati, Aug. 10: As you pass through the Baghmara and Rewak reserve forests in

the South Garo Hills, you will come across such signs as " be patient, " " be

quiet " and " wait for it to pass " . These signboards have been put up for visitors

to exercise restraint while crossing the area, as it is home to a herd of wild

elephants.

 

In an attempt to reduce the man-elephant conflict, the Samrakshan Trust, an

organisation working for biodiversity conservation in collaboration with

Meghalaya forest department, have put up signboards in Garo and English along

these roads and the members even distribute handbills to drivers asking them to

be cautious.

 

" There were various encounters between wild elephants and humans on these roads.

The problem aggravates during certain times of the year. Though statistics are

not maintained and most cases of encounters with elephants on the road go

unreported, rough estimates based on conversations with people and personal

experiences indicate a minimum of three to four encounters in a week. Some of

these turn violent and dangerous with elephants damaging vehicles and chasing

people, " an official of Samrakshan Trust based at Baghmara said.

 

Two major roads pass through these forest areas. National Highway 62 connects

Baghmara with Williamnagar via Siju. This road, around 3km, passes through the

Rewak Reserve Forest, which is used regularly by elephants crossing across the

Simsang river from Siju.

 

The second road is a state highway (SH 31A) that connects Baghmara with the

block headquarters, Rongara. A large part of this road, around 15km, passes

through the Baghmara reserve forest, which is an important elephant area and has

a resident population as well as seasonal visitors. There is a great deal of

elephant activity within the reserve forest, especially along the road.

 

The Wildlife Research and Monitoring Team at Samrakshan Trust has been actively

studying elephant movement signs, trails and paths and compiling a database of

elephant routes.

 

" As part of this drive, major roads were being monitored and signs of elephant

presence and crossing points were identified and monitored over a period of

time. This provided important information on the points the elephants crossed.

 

These points were identified and a map prepared with the help of global

positioning system receivers, " the official said.

 

Altogether 16 signboards were put up, 11 in the Baghmara reserve forest and five

in the Rewak reserve forest.

 

On July 16, Samrakshan staff and forest department officials visited all the

identified major conflict locations on these roads and put up signboards for the

benefit of the public.

 

" Samrakshan Trust prepared the awareness material and printed them as handbills

before distributing them to motorists crossing the reserve forests. This was

highly appreciated by the motorists and was especially useful to the people who

are not frequent visitors on this route, " the official said.

 

The Garo Hills in Meghalaya is home to one of the largest elephant population in

India.

 

The importance of this population for the overall survival of the Asian elephant

has been recognised by Project Elephant by designating a large part of this area

as the Garo Hills Elephant Reserve. Within the Garo Hills, the district of South

Garo Hills is especially rich in forest cover and biodiversity values.