‘Hotel’ for elephants in Bankura: Sanctuary helps curb human-animal conflict
Telegraph | 3 March 2025
A forest patch in Bankura that developed over the years has emerged as a sanctuary for elephants and a model that forest officials want to replicate across south Bengal to mitigate the human-jumbo conflict.
A herd of 68 elephants has been living in Barjora, a forest spread across 35sqkm in Bankura, for over three months. It is covered by energised fencing on three sides. The Damodar and some mining areas also border the forest.
Thanks to a series of plantation drives over the past decade, the patch is full of trees that jumbos love, like banyan, elephant apple, stone apple and jackfruit, and herbivore fodder like napier grass.
In south Bengal, the jumbos routinely raid the fringe villages for the lack of food in the forests. People die, farmlands are ravaged and homes are damaged in the raids. Elephants have also been killed in retaliation by death traps like live wires.
Between 2009 and 2013, Bankura witnessed around 30 human deaths annually. Since 2024, Bankura has not reported a single human death caused by elephants, said a senior forest official who attributed the slide to the Barjora forest, which he said has become an ideal habitat for the herd.
“The elephants are getting sufficient fodder and water inside the forest. They do not have to stray outside in search of food,” said S. Kulandaivel, chief conservator of forests, central circle.
Elephants are migratory by nature. They cannot stay confined to one place for too long. The success of the Barjora model has prompted the forest department to identify six more such forest pockets in Bankura, Jhargram and West Midnapore that will be developed as dedicated elephant habitats.
“These forests are interconnected. We want to develop them and build an elephant corridor. All the seven forest patches will have enough food and water for the elephants,” said Kulandaivel.
Sources in the forest department said the initial plan was to develop more than 20 such elephant habitats but a shortage of funds has reduced the number.
The selected forests are in Beliatore and Sonamukhi ranges in Bankura; Belpahari and Kankrajhore ranges in Jhargram and Chhatra in West Midnapore.
The proposal was cleared in 2023 and work to develop the forests began in 2024, said a forest official.
“We are planting similar trees and fodder in the forests. They will start bearing fruits in a year. There will be a noticeable change within five years,” said the forest official.
The department is hiring workers to dig ponds inside the forests to ensure a steady water supply for elephants.
Jhargram has now emerged as a man-animal conflict hotspot, said forest officials.
In August last year, a female elephant, part of a herd of five that strayed into Jhargram town, was killed after being speared by a burning iron stick, apparently by a member of a hula party. The pictures of the elephant were widely circulated on social media and drew widespread criticism.
Aritra Kshettry, national lead for elephant conservation with WWF-India, welcomed the move to develop natural habitats for elephants.
“Since there is no large elephant habitat in south Bengal, the jumbos are all over the place, feeding from agricultural land. If the conflict has to be dealt with, the elephants must be diverted to natural fodder. For that, there is no substitute for creating enriched habitats. It is a welcome move that instead of feeding elephants with anthropogenic food, there is a stress on enriching natural habitats with natural fodder and water,” said Kshettry.
“If these are isolated habitats, then it will defeat the purpose. Connectivity between these habitats is of utmost importance. If the corridor cuts through farmlands, then farmers have to be taken on board. They should be given incentives. They should be given financial support to grow wildlife-friendly crops or any other form of help for allowing elephant movement through interconnected corridors,” he added.