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Agence France-Presse

On the day Yogesh became another of the dozens of Indians trampled to death each year, the coffee plantation worker knew from the fire crackers set off nearby that danger was at hand.
“Everything happened so fast. The elephant suddenly emerged from behind the bushes, trampled him and disappeared,” his younger brother Girish said.
The 48-year-old from the southern state of Karnataka, home to India’s largest elephant population with more than 6,000 jumbos, 20 per cent of the country’s total, left behind a wife and two children.

As India’s population grows, people are encroaching into habitats where until now the elephant, not man, has been king, with painful effects for both parties.
The Indian government told parliament last year that 1,100 people had been killed in the previous three years.
The elephants too are paying a heavy price with around 700 fatalities in the last eight years across the country.
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Everything happened so fast. The elephant suddenly emerged from behind the bushes, trampled him and disappeared
Girish
Most were killed by electric fences, poisoned or shot by locals angry at family members being killed or crops being destroyed, and accidents on railway cutting through ancient migratory routes. And Karnataka, which is also part of the wider southern region criss-crossed by over 10,000 of the mighty tusked beasts weighing up to five tonnes, is on the frontline.
“At present we have an annual death rate of around 30 to 40 people in the state,” said C Jayaram, Karnataka’s chief wildlife warden.
The Indian government, like many other stakeholders in the complex and tragic situation, appears undecided about what best to do.
“It is very difficult to escape our population or development pressure,” a senior government official said. “Unless it’s addressed, all of us just have to learn to live with the reality of such encounters.”
East African elephants a highlight for tourists, a livelihood for locals
In Karnataka, forest rangers, mounted on elephants themselves, capture problem pachyderms and take them to the Dubare Elephant Camp.
J.C. Bhaskar, an employee at the camp, describes it “like a jail” but it is more of a rehabilitation and training centre.
“We get the place ready before they are captured, we spread hay and leaves beforehand,” he said. “After the resting period, we start taming and training the elephant.”

One of the inmates is none other than Surya, who killed Yogesh and another man, the lumbering animal wearing chains loosely around one ankle to discourage him from running.
The 28 jumbos at the camp also draw tourists, with thousands visiting the lush, riverside camp each year, stroking the animals and enjoying being squirted with water.
However, while such relocations may assuage local anger, officials and activists acknowledge it is only a stopgap solution.
As you can see, no physical barrier can stop them
Vinod Krishnan, Nature Conservation Foundation
The only effective method, according to Vinod Krishnan, an activist with NGO Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) working with local communities, is better information-sharing.
“Everything else has already been tried unsuccessfully. This includes deep trenches, normal or solar-powered fences and even fire crackers,” Krishnan said.
“As you can see, no physical barrier can stop them,” he added, pointing to the little of what remains of a section of fence at a coffee estate.
China’s demand for elephant skin decimating Myanmar population
His group has developed a simple yet effective system around local villages allowing sightings of elephants to be immediately verified and passed on.
“We set up display boards around key elephant routes and set up SMS services for early warnings about an elephant’s presence, which has significantly reduced such chance encounters,” he added.
This is helped by the exponential jump in the use of mobile phones in India over the past decade, including in remote areas. But Girish, half a year after losing his brother and fearing for his own life, still regularly sees herds of elephants around the coffee estates where he works.
“Nothing has changed,” he said. “Locals can only keep chasing them away till they return as, they, like us, have nowhere else to go.”


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India

India’s growing population draws elephants and humans into conflict with deadly consequences on both sides

A mahout sweeping the surroundings of an elephant and a calf about 250km west of Bangalore. Photo: AFP

This photo taken on May 11, 2018 shows an Indian forestry official patting a tamed elephant named Ranjan at the Dubare Elephant Camp in Kodagu District, about 250 kms west of Bangalore. As India's 1.3-billion population grows, people are encroaching into habitats where until now the elephant, not man, has been king, with painful effects for both parties. The Indian government told parliament in 2017 that 1,100 people had been killed in the previous three years. / AFP PHOTO / Manjunath KIRAN / TO GO WITH India-animal-environment-elephants-conservation,FEATURE by Bhuvan BHAGGA

This photo taken on May 10, 2018 shows a signboard put up by the Karnataka Forest Department on the side of a road to warn motorists about the presence of wild elephants around the coffee estates in Kechammana Hosakote village in Hassan District, about 220 kms west of Bangalore. As India's 1.3-billion population grows, people are encroaching into habitats where until now the elephant, not man, has been king, with painful effects for both parties. The Indian government told parliament in 2017 that 1,100 people had been killed in the previous three years. / AFP PHOTO / Manjunath KIRAN / TO GO WITH India-animal-environment-elephants-conservation,FEATURE by Bhuvan BHAGGA

'All I see are dead elephants': Kenyan Maasai march on the heart of Hong Kong's retail ivory trade, demanding it end now

(Second from left to right) Kenyan Daniel Ole Sambu, the Ol Jogi conservancy's Jamie Gaymer, and TV personality Sean Lee-Davies with an ivory shopkeeper. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Are ‘avenging’ elephants in China deliberately targeting  humans?

Zhao Xinmei, a 69 year old farmer in Fazhanhe prefecture, Yunnan, was tortured and killed by wild elephants last month, according to mainland media reports. Photo: SCMP Pictures

(170606) -- XISHUANGBANNA, June 6, 2017 (Xinhua) -- The wild Asian elephant "Yangniu" walks on a bridge at Asian Elephant Breeding and Rescue Centre in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Yunnan Province, June 4, 2017. The rescue centre has offered help to 12 wild Asian elephants since it was founded in 2008. Now nine wild Asian elephants still remain in the centre to receive medical care and rehabilitation training until returning to the nature. (Xinhua/Jing Huihui) (ry)

Zhao Xinmei, a 69 year old farmer in Fazhanhe prefecture, Yunnan, was tortured and killed by wild elephants last month, according to mainland media reports. Zhao Pihei, her husband, said the elephants approached them quietly from behind in the afternoon on May 22. They were working on a corn field near Heishuihe village. As they saw the elephants looming over, they fled. The husband entered a shed nearby for shelter. He witnessed how the elephants, one fully-grown adult and the other mid-size juvenile, tortured his wife as she fell behind and manipulated her body for more than 20 minutes. ÒThey did not let Zhao Xinmei touch the ground, but tossed her like a ball,Ó the 67-year-old man was quoted by Redstar News, a social media news account run by Chengdu Business Daily in a report on Thursday. ÒThen they stepped on her and tore her apart. Her remains were scattered on a trail about 800 metres long,Ó he said. Zhao was not the fourth victim killed by the same group of Asian elephants in F

(170606) -- XISHUANGBANNA, June 6, 2017 (Xinhua) -- The wild Asian elephant "Yangniu" is fed milk at Asian Elephant Breeding and Rescue Centre in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Yunnan Province, June 4, 2017. The rescue centre has offered help for 12 wild Asian elephants since it was founded in 2008. Now nine wild Asian elephants still remained in the centre to receive medical care and rehabilitation training until returning to the nature. (Xinhua/Jing Huihui) (ry)

epa06013161 A handout photo made available by the Wildaid organization on 06 June 2017 shows a group of children, lawmakers and activists holding posters denouncing the killing of elephants for they ivory during a protest outside the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, China, 06 June 2017. A park ranger from the Democratic Republic of Congo testified in the legislature against the trading of ivory in Hong Kong and called on lawmakers to swiftly ban the ivory trade and to resist demands from traders for compensation. EPA/WILDAID HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

Baby elephants have become latest status symbol for Sri Lanka’s nouveau riche

Elephants are venerated in mainly Buddhist Sri Lanka and capturing them is illegal. Photo: AFP

In this photograph taken on June 18, 2016, elephants perform a routine at the zoo in Dehiwala near Colombo. Elephants are considered sacred and are protected by law in Sri Lanka, but a Buddhist monk and a judge are among dozens under investigation for poaching baby jumbos, often after killing their mothers. / AFP PHOTO / LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI / TO GO WITH AFP STORY: SriLanka-elephants-conservation, FOCUS by Amal Jayasinghe

In this photograph taken on June 17, 2016, a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk watches as mahouts bathe an elephant at a temple in Colombo. Elephants are considered sacred and are protected by law in Sri Lanka, but a Buddhist monk and a judge are among dozens under investigation for poaching baby jumbos, often after killing their mothers. / AFP PHOTO / LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI / TO GO WITH AFP STORY: SriLanka-elephants-conservation, FOCUS by Amal Jayasinghe

Cambodia tour operator promises to reduce work hours for elephants after one died of heatstroke

A female elephant died by the roadside on Friday after carrying tourists around Cambodia’s famous Angkor Wat temple complex. Photo: Facebook

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Asia

South Asia

The Indian government told parliament last year that 1,100 people had been killed in the previous three years


Conservation

India’s growing population draws elephants and humans into conflict with deadly consequences on both sides

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The Indian government told parliament last year that 1,100 people had been killed in the previous three years

The Indian government told parliament last year that 1,100 people had been killed in the previous three years