With increased depredation by wild elephants taking a dangerous turn, the Assam government has mooted the creation of five special elephant reserves.Assam Forest and Environment Minister Pradyut Bodoloi said the problem of man-elephant conflict had assumed ‘‘elephantine proportions’’ in recent years and more and more human lives were being lost every year due to trampling by wild elephants. Assam has over 5,500 wild elephants, apart from 1,200 domestic ones. Wild elephants also cross over from neighbouring states as well as Myanmar and Bhutan. ‘‘Wild elephants entering from other states and neighbouring countries has further complicated the situation,’’ Bordoloi stated in the on-going Budget Session of the state Assembly. Encroachment of the natural elephant corridors has added to the problem, the minister added. On an average 50 persons are getting killed by wild elephants in the state every year. The five new elephant reserves proposed to be set up by the Assam government are: Sonitpur Elephant Reserve, Chirang-Ripu Elephant Reserve, Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong Elephant Reserve, Dehing-Patkai Elephant Reserve, and Dhansiri-Lungding Elephant Reserve. These five proposed reserves will cover an area of about 10,900 sq kms. A recent study conducted by the Assam chapter of the Worldwide Find for Nature (WWF) said large-scale destruction of forests due to increasing human pressure was the main reason behind the growing man-elephant conflict in the state. Wild elephants often stray out in search of food, causing depredation in villages and damaging standing crops, compelling people to hit back. About a dozen elephants too get killed every year in the state in the process.The government, meanwhile, has constituted special anti-depredation squads in districts like Sonitpur, Sibsagar and Nagaon, where the problem is the biggest, where villagers are scaring away the animals by bursting crackers instead of attacking them
