Plans to set up anti-poaching watcher camps to keep tabs on elephant herds

Officials from the Nilgiris division of the Forest Department have formulated strategies to minimise human-animal conflicts in the Kil Kotagiri range, including plans to unify the extremely small forest range with another, and setting up anti-poaching watcher camps to keep tabs on elephant herds.

Speaking to The Hindu, Sumesh Soman, District Forest Officer (Nilgiris division), said that the Kil Kotagiri range had previously been part of a larger jurisdiction which had been under the control of the Nilgiris forest division.

However, with the notification of the buffer zone of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR), around two-thirds of the range, which had been referred to as the Nilgiris North Eastern Slope, had been transferred to the management of the tiger reserve, leaving only a small sliver of territory requiring constant monitoring from the forest department.

As the majority of the range is now under the control of the field director of the MTR, the anti-poaching watchers too, who were involved in anti-depredation work at Kil Kotagiri, now report only to Mudumalai, leading to a lack of staff strength in the Kil Kotagiti range to help deal with human-animal conflicts.

“As a temporary measure, we have requested the field director of MTR to provide us with five anti-poaching watchers and anti-depredation squad members, who will help us deal with human-elephants conflicts in the region,” said Mr. Soman, adding that as the elephants were migrating across the landscape, including in Sholur Mattam, Avalanche and Kundah, there was an increased risk of the animals coming into contact with humans.

In order to better manage the Kil Kotagiri forests, there are plans by the forest department to unify the range with the Kotagiri forest range, and also to set up permanent anti-poaching watcher camps.

“We have formed a monitoring group on mobile messaging platforms involving field staff and senior officials from the division to keep tabs on the movement of elephants across the division,” added Mr. Soman. The mechanism would be similar to the one used by the forest department in Gudalur, where elephants are monitored continuously. People living nearby to where the animals are grazing are being warned not to stray outdoors after dark.