An event organized on World Earth Day at Madkholkar College in Chandgad, Kolhapur (Maharashtra), provided insights from Anand Shinde of Trunk Call Wildlife Foundation on the importance of understanding elephants and taking measures to find a solution to the elephant-man conflict. Shinde shared his experiences of pacifying a wild elephant named Gajraj, who had killed three people in the Tadoba sanctuary, along with other valuable insights.
He further said that “In Mahabharata also there is a mention of elephants in Konkan region, in Mahabharata it is written in one place that elephants in Aparant area are red, the color of red soil has been associated with the color of elephants in ancient texts. The nature, behavior, and mental state of the elephant is very similar to that of a human being and elephants easily express feelings of love, anger, laughter, mockery, etc. “If we want to preserve this very intelligent animal that has very sharp senses which can recognize odors up to seven kilometers away and communicate with each other for up to seven kilometers through sound waves that the human ear cannot hear, it will take at least five years for the efforts we start today to succeed.”
Shinde further said that we should remember that we will be safe in our homes only when the elephant is safe in its home, He added that the genetic memory of the elephant lasts for five generations. That’s why in some areas where there was never an elephant in the past, elephants suddenly appear and we are surprised. In such a situation, it is likely that earlier generations of elephants lived there, and the present generations of elephants are traversing that area using the genetic memory of geography of that area, but we are unaware of that.
Speaking on the occasion, Principal of the college P R Patil expressed hope for greater understanding from human beings in the struggles of humans and animals and opined that the plight of farmers needs to reach to the government.
Central Bureau of Communication, Kolhapur and Forest Range Officer’s Office, Chandgad, jointly organised the programme on the occasion of world Earth day being celebrated on April 22. Various awareness programmes were organized at Madkholkar College Chandgad. After guidance from experts on the issue of human and wild animal conflict, the prize distribution for competitions held yesterday was done at the hands of the dignitaries. An awareness round was also taken out by the students in the area.
Forest Range Officer Nandkumar Bhosale, Wildlife Expert Girish Punjabi and villagers of nearby villages were present on the occasion.
Trunk Call: the Wildlife Foundation
Trunk Call the Wildlife Foundation is implementing an elephant conservation programme in 70 villages, including 50 villages provided by the Maharashtra Forest Department and another 20 villages that have joined it on their own. Apart from elephant conservation, the biggest part of the programme is to educate people about elephants and bison. For the past 20 years, the main part of the program has been to give elephants an elephant’s corridor, restore their food chain that has ended, and secure their habitat, rather than bursting crackers, planting bio fences and blocking the elephant’s path through trenches. The organization and the forest department will continue to strive for the next few years to help reduce the conflict between elephants and humans.
