HIGH-TECH SOLAR POWER WARDS OF ELEPHANTS

Starting from using indigenous knowledge to artificial intelligence to solar lights several methods have been adopted to keep the wild elephants away in the Eastern Himalayas from human habitation and crop fields which the jumbos used to raid frequently.

This time Aaranyak, one of India’s leading biodiversity conservation organisations, has recently installed 10 solar street lights in seven villages located in the West Garo Hills district. These villages have been identified as human-elephant conflict (HEC) areas. All the villagers are now safe from the big animals.

Interestingly, a small group of tribal women, mostly housewives in the tiny hamlets, habitually keeps a watchful eye on a single-strand solar-energised fence that shields their village and homes from imminent invasion by wild elephants after dusk. These village women often help their menfolk in keeping the solar-powered fence intact and well maintained as per the training provided by a team from Aaranyak during the installation.

said Ayan Debi Rabha, vice-president of Solar Fence Management Committee in tiny Borogobal Village, which has 24 households.

The organisation highlighted the significance of installing solar street lights in areas prone to human- elephant conflicts (HEC). They pointed out that these conflicts often occur in HEC hotspots during the dark hours of the night and can result in fatal outcomes. Such incidents further exacerbate the HEC situation in a given area. Solar street lights offer an effective solution to prevent these unwarranted face-offs between wild elephants and humans, thereby contributing to the mitigation of conflicts.

The installation locations were identified based on elephant movement patterns, and the villages are inhabited by indigenous communities such as Garo, Rabha, Bodo, and others.

Araynak has also developed a mobile phone application known as Hati App for all stakeholders toward mitigating human-elephant conflict and coexisting with the large animals in the State and elsewhere in the North East. Known as ‘Haati App’, envisaged as an early warning system about the presence of wild elephants in the proximity of human settlements. 

Gone are those days when wild elephants used to be driven out burning flames and loud sound of drums and even crackers. The wild animals have become habituated with such human tricks and no longer respond to the same. There were occasions when the angry elephants caught hold of one such flame and threw it back to a nearby hutment reducing it to ashes.

Source: Himalayan News Chronicle