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Tripura to procure first radio collar device to curtail man-elephant conflict
The elephants would be radio collared through Satellite collars and Very High Frequency (VHF) collars to track their movements.
The Tripura forest department plans to use radio collar device for the elephants to reduce possible man-animal conflict for the first time in the state, said chief wildlife warden DK Sharma on Saturday.
The elephants would be radio collared through Satellite collars and Very High Frequency (VHF) collars to track their movements.
“Discussions regarding procurement of the radio collar is on. We are hopeful to procure by this December. The radio collar will help to track movement of the wild elephants and we can take measures to push them back to forests and thus preventing them from entering human habitations,” Sharma said.
Total 50 man-elephant conflict incidents were recorded in the state in 2019-20 with one death.
“ We have settled 30 of such cases so far. Rest will also be settled soon,” he said.
Currently, the state has 40-50 wild elephants and 62-65 captive elephants. Two groups of elephants are seen in Khowai district and Gomati district, according to Forest Department’s record.
Earlier, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Chhatisgarh and other states used radio collar to minimize conflict.
The state government also took a beekeeping project in agricultural lands to prevent elephant attacks and also taken steps to grow bamboo and banana plantations in the forests , which are elephant fodder.
