In a major initiative to reduce man-animal conflict Karnataka Forest Department has dug trenches around some of its forest. This trench digging is also seen to reduce elephants attacking farms and people around the forest.
Forest Minister Ramanath Rai informed the legislative Council that the Government had dug 24 trenches in 24 district to end wild elephant menace that was causing huge losses to farmers but still he said the problem persists, Forest Minister.
Answering a question by Rizwan Arshad of Congress, the Minister said the Government had spent Rs36.97 crore to dig such trenches but the problem of wild elephants raiding farm land from nearby forests persisted. He said growth in wild elephant population was the reason that the problem continued to affect the farmers. But the forest department had not taken any action to bring down the birth rate of elephants, as it was not in a position to do it, he said.
He said there was no problem for funds to stop pachyderms destroy crops and the government had decided to erect strong fences using rails used to lay railway lines. Minister said the elephant menace was due to depletion of quantum of food and water available in forests and current drought conditions had worsened the situation.
However such severe conditions is expected to naturally bring down the elephant population as availability of food and water was becoming scarce in forests. This initiative is also seen as to reduce elephants raiding crops during summer months.
Meanwhile Karnataka which has highest number of Tigers in the country a count of 406 lost 17 during 2016 and another seven deaths in the beginning of 2017.