Abstract
Asiatic elephants have been involved in severe conflicts with the people residing in the fringes of Abhaypur Reserve Forest, Northeast India. An attempt was made for the first time ever to assess this problem in these areas. During this study, a closed-ended questionnaire survey was conducted in selected fringe villages of the protected area. The aim was to evaluate the issue from the socioeconomic point of view and also develop a general understanding about the conflict elephants as well as control measures applied. It was revealed that the elephants were responsible for widespread agricultural loss, property damage and human attacks. This resulted in severe consequences upon the financially weak rural population. Due to rampant crop raid, people were also bound to abandon agricultural land and convert paddy fields into tea gardens. The chief control measures applied included crackers, fire and noise, which were not fully effective. The issue has magnified itself into a formidable conservation challenge in the area and needs to be addressed immediately. This would enable humans and elephants to co-exist peacefully around the forest. Human–elephant conflicts around Abhaypur highlight the fact that wildlife can exert widespread impacts upon the human society.
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The authors acknowledge the help and co-operation received from the local villagers and staff of Charaideo Forest Division, Assam, India.
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Dutta, H., Hazarika, A. (2020). Assessment of Different Aspects of Elephant Depredation at a Rural Society-Protected Area Interface in Northeast India Based on Public Estimation. In: Roy, N., Roychoudhury, S., Nautiyal, S., Agarwal, S., Baksi, S. (eds) Socio-economic and Eco-biological Dimensions in Resource use and Conservation. Environmental Science and Engineering(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32463-6_12
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