Exotic shrub invasion escalates human-elephant conflicts in Chhattisgarh, says Experts
12 Aug 2024 4:56 PM GMT
Raipur: Invasive exotic shrub, Lanata camara, has contributed to the recent escalation of human-elephant conflicts in Chhattisgarh, leading to loss of lives of people and properties, experts say.
According to the experts, the weed species, a native to American tropics, has spread extensively in the Chhattisgarh forests causing the grassland covers to shrink very fast.
As a result of which, the habitats of the herbivores including elephants have suffered huge losses.
“The loss of habitats of herbivores has been forcing the wild animals particularly the elephants to move to the human habitations in search of food, leading to human-elephant conflicts”, noted conservationist Nitin Singhi told this newspaper on Monday.
The flowering plant species has been introduced in Indian habitat around 250 years ago by the British people who grew it as an ornamental plant in the garden.
According to Mr Singvi, during the monsoon, grass becomes the key food source of the elephants.
But, spread of Lantana camara in forests has curbed the natural growth of the grasslands which deprived the elephants of nutritious plant species found in the grassland, as their food.
Exotic plants such as Lanata camara have almost no nutritional value and caused loss of the grasslands forcing the herbivores like elephants either to feed on the unpalatable invasive species or move to the human habitations in search of food.
The Chhattisgarh forest department has identified it as a one of the key reasons of human-elephant conflicts and launched a move to free the forests of the invasive species.
“The Lanata weed has been cleared of around 4.41 lakh hectares in the forests in Chhattisgarh in the last five years”, a senior forest officer said.
According to Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF)(wildlife), Chhattisgarh, Srinivas Rao, the grasslands have regenerated richly in the forests of the state after removal of the weed.
According to the official data, as many as 595 people were killed in elephant attacks in the state in the last 11 years.
More than 60,000 incidents of crop damage due to the elephant attacks have been reported in the state during the period.
North Chhattisgarh regions of Sarguja and Jashpur are the worst hit by the elephant menace.
Next Story
