Growing Human-Elephant Conflict

Basant Subba, The Rising Nepal

December 8, 2006

Humans and wild elephants have been in a titanic struggle in Nepal in the recent years. The incidences of killings by the beasts have gone up in the recent months. Every year migrating herds of wild elephants cross the Mechi River in East Nepal and enter the country during summer and winter damaging the ripened crops and pulling down the huts and fruit trees. In summer they damage maize and in autumn the paddy.

Wildlife knows no political boundary. Experts say the wild elephants have been using the traditional migratory route covering Nepal-India border since hundreds of years. Clearance of pristine forests for agricultural and infrastructure development following the eradication of malaria in the 1960s and growing human population in the fringe areas have fragmented elephant habitats in Nepal's lowlands. Today, the aimless wanderers in the broken patches of forests not only raid crop in the adjoining fields and destroy huts and property, it often results in loss of human life and the death of the protected wildlife. Despite the fact that there is a stiff penalty for killing an elephant, affected farmers are sometimes left with no choice but to resort to reprisal killing. At times local administrations and park managers are also forced to destroy the protected animals to prevent further loss of life and property.

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