Abstract
Conflict with elephants and subsequent economic losses negatively affect residents’ tolerance towards wild elephants. It is important to understand people’s attitude towards wildlife, especially Asian Elephants with an endangered status. A questionnaire survey was undertaken with 510 forest fringe residents of Nilambur North and South Forest Divisions, Kerala, to understand residents’ attitudes towards elephant conservation and Human-Elephant conflict. The majority of the villagers experienced psychological stress and fear associated with movement restriction and chances of encounters with elephants. Crop damage was perceived as the most serious issue, followed by injury or death by encounters with elephants. Elephants show a higher preference for raiding Jackfruit and Plantain than other crops. The conflict was caused more frequently by solitary elephants than by elephant herds. Elephants were mainly found near farm areas during late night (22:00–02:00 hr) and early night (20:00–22:00 hr). More than half of the residents were in favour of forest conservation owing to its ecological value. One-fourth of the respondents favoured forest conservation due to its extraction benefits such as collection of fuel wood and cattle grazing. Almost equal proportions of people have positive and negative attitudes towards elephants. In such instances, the possibility for a drastic shift towards negative attitudes following spontaneous elephant conflict events can be expected. Ecological awareness, interaction among stakeholders, and participatory maintenance of mitigation methods will possibly reduce conflict and contribute towards the coexistence of people and elephants in this human-dominated landscape.
Highlights
Elephant invasion into human habitations affects people at different levels, causing economic, social, cultural, and psychological impacts
The present study provides baseline information about people’s attitude towards conservation issues, reveals people’s misconceptions, and thereby enables suggested potential focus areas while formulating policies for improving tolerance by means of participatory activities and environmental education programs
Extent of conflict The majority of the residents (42.5%) experienced psychological stress associated with conflict, such as free movement restriction and fear associated with frequent encounters with elephants
Summary
Elephant invasion into human habitations affects people at different levels, causing economic, social, cultural, and psychological impacts. Human-Wildlife conflict (HWC) is often a manifestation of underlying Human-Human conflict (HHC) such as between authorities and local people who are in the midst of Human-Wildlife interactions (Hart & O’Connell 2000; Dickman 2010). The endangered status of elephants and the huge damage caused per conflict incident adds to the significance of HHC management, in the case of elephant conflict. Whether farmers regard a species that causes damages as problematic or acceptable is determined by cultural differences in perceptions towards the particular species (Fernando et al 2005). It has been recognized that major challenges in the management of human-elephant conflict (HEC) are greatly influenced by the human component (Hart & O’Connell 2000)
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