'Hanging' fence installed to keep away wild elephants

KOZHIKODE: A hanging fence has been installed on an experimental basis
in Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS) to prevent wild elephants from
straying into human habitations bordering forest areas.

The 200-metre-long solar-powered fence, put up at Anachira area under
the Muthanga forest range of the sanctuary, was devised by the final
semester students of the Government polytechnic, Mananthavady, as an
innovative solution to mitigate human- wildlife conflict.

WWS warden N T Sajan said the fence would help overcome the problem
of jumbos destroying the previously-used horizontal fences installed on
the ground using tusks.

"As the wires of the new fence dangle down from a height, they will be beyond the reach of elephant tusks," he said. Steel wires are hung in a row from a 3-m high horizontal overhead wire supported by posts on both ends. The wires would be connected to the solar power system and elephants would receive a mild shock if they try crossing through the hanging wires.

Sajan said the solution was cost effective when compared to conventional fences. It has been used in countries like Sri Lanka before. "It was found to be successful in Muthumalai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu," he added.

Forest officials said another advantage was that if at all an elephant breached the fence and entered human habitations, it could be driven back to the forests by temporarily switching off the current flowing through the fence.

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Now, a hanging fence to prevent human-elephant conflict

The fence, designed in Sri Lanka, will be tried out on a 3-km stretch
The Forests Department will now try out a solar-powered “hanging fence” to deter elephants from entering human habitations and raiding crops in a village on the fringes of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.

For long, the residents of Thorapalli have been complaining of elephants raiding their farms, and this has prompted the Forests Department to try out on a three-km stretch the new fence that was first designed in Sri Lanka.

The department staff said that over the last few months, three elephants – two tuskers aged between 15 and 18, and a single makhna (tuskless elephant), known to locals as “Bharathan,” and said to be aged between 35 and 40 frequently entered the human settlements and the farms surrounding Thorapalli.

Though the elephants have posed no threat to humans so far, with many of the local residents co-existing with the animals, the three elephants have started raiding crops in the area.

Residents apprehensive

Many residents fear that this could worsen into a human-elephant conflict.

The fear heightened a couple of weeks ago, when four persons, including three children, crossed paths with one of the three elephants.

They fell and sustained minor injuries while trying to flee the spot. A.K. Ulaganathan, Field Director of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, told The Hindu that the department would begin installing the fence in the coming days.

Till then, anti-depredation squad members posted in the area would chase the elephants away when they entered the human habitations after dusk. The fence is designed in such a way that stainless steel wires hang from a post or a similar structure.

Hanging 3 ft apart from each other, the wires sway gently in the wind and make it difficult for the elephants to get through without receiving a small shock, said N. Mohanraj, environmentalist and honorary wildlife warden, who is assisting the forest department in setting up the fence.

The need to redesign fences has come up as the elephants have found ingenious ways of getting through them in the Gudalur area, including slamming the fence with broken tree branches. Elephant trenches in the area are also to be strengthened, officials added.

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