123 Kolkata: An early warning system is being put in place to reduce human-elephant conflict in Bankura, which witnessed a resurgence in deaths caused by elephants in recent years. If the two-year project is successful, similar artificial intelligence-enabled elephant movement detectors will be installed in West Midnapore and Purulia.
"Earlier, south Bengal dealt with 30-40 migratory elephants in winter. But in the past decade and a half, a 150-175-strong resident population emerged, which led to a rise in conflict with people living in south Bengal. Of these, around 40-50 elephants regularly enter Bankura. We will install around two dozen elephant movement detectors to warn the forest department, quick response team and police. The strategic locations along elephant corridors are being identified for the installation of the detectors," said Arjan Basu Roy of Nature Mates, an NGO that is spearheading the project.
The technical partner is SNAP, which developed the detectors equipped with a thermal motion sensor that captures images of animal movement and automatically analyses the animal's shape and movement direction. "The devices will trigger SMS-based warnings to the authorities," said SNAP executive director Kaustav Choudhury.
The project also involves an ambitious attempt to solve the primary issue: meeting the elephant fodder requirement. Since forests in south Bengal do not have the resources to feed such a large population of elephants, they raid farmlands. "Earlier, paddy fields used to be destroyed in winter. But now, all kinds of vegetables are being devoured by the elephants, and this has given rise to heightened tension. So we are planning the plantation of various grasses along the banks of rivers like Damodar and Tarakeshwar, to at least partially meet the fodder requirement," Basu Roy pointed out.
An adult male elephant consumes around 100-150 kg of fodder a day. For the 50-odd elephants that enter Bankura, that would mean 5-7.5 tonnes of fodder daily. For the elephant population in the entire south Bengal, that would mean around 20 tonnes of fodder.
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