22 elephants to be relocated from Hassan

BANGALORE: Waking up to the rising elephant menace in Hassan district, the state Forest Department is relocating about 22 elephants from Alur Forest range and Sakleshpur to Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary. “We are working out the plan, by mid October we will start relocating the elephants,” said an official source, from the state Forest Department. “Analysing the situation at Hassan and with immense pressure from the local people, we sent a request to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF). During his recent visit to Bangalore, the Additional Director General (Wildlife), MoEF, Jagdish Kishwan had given an oral permission. Once we get the written approval, we will begin with the process. The officials are working out the strategy, it will take another two weeks time,” he said.  To take stock of the situation, Forest Minister C P Yogeshwar is visiting Hassan on October 12. When asked about the reason for increasing man-jumbo conflict in Hassan in the recent years, he said, “With developmental works taking place in forests in Hassan, a herd of 25 pachyderms has made plantations of Alur and Sakleshpur as its habitat, and kept straying into nearby villages in search of food and water.” Earlier this year, seeking MoEF’s assistance and intervention for tackling elephant menace and man-elephant encounter, the state Forest Department had submitted a report on the presence of rogue elephants in the state.Starting from April 2011 till date, the state Forest Department has paid `4 crore as compensation for damaging crops to the farmers in the state, which includes `38 lakh in Hassan district alone.It is not just crop loss, as many as 11 human lives were lost in elephant attacks, of which one was in Hassan district.  The situation seemed to be worse in 2010 where six human lives were lost in an elephant attack in Hassan. In addition to human lives, 36 elephants were killed since April 2011. Three elephants had died due to electrocution, one fell to bullets, and the rest were natural deaths.According to the records from the state Forest Department, as many as 14 people and 15 elephants had died since 2007 in Hassan district alone.