Jumbos halt life in seven villages after dusk

SAKLESHPUR, Hassan: If Khanapur villagers in Belagavi district scamper home before dusk due to a man-eating tiger on the prowl, the situation is no different in seven villages, nestling at the foothills of Pushpagiri and Bisle reserve forest area.
People here rush home before dusk, to avoid a run-in with elephants. The cardamom growers in these villages, about 40 km from Sakleshpur, say after sunset, the villages are the fiefdom of jumbo herds.
AB Dinesh, who owns 14 acres of cardamom plantation, says though these pachyderms have not troubled humans, villagers do not want to take a chance. “Unlike their counterparts in Hassan, these elephants numbering three to four are regular visitors to our plantations and they squat till dawn. But they have not attacked humans till now,” he says.
Here the man-animal conflict has not cost lives because of the “tacit understanding’’ between them. “If the elephants in our plantations get the whiff of human presence, they snort, bark, grunt, trumpet and even imitate sounds, to alert us. Sometimes they break a branch to indicate their presence and we do not venture near that area. This possibly has resulted in zero casualties,’’ adds Dinesh.
KS Mohan, 59, from Kaginele area, bordering Bisle Extension, notes the problem first started in his area a decade back. “Now we do not move out of our houses after sunset. People heave a sigh of relief when their kin reach before dusk," he says.
Deputy range forest officer (Yeslur) Manje Gowda says the exact reason for the pachyderm menace is not known. “It started a decade back all of a sudden. Though only four elephants are regular visitors, we see herds of 10-12 moving across the forest in this area," he says.
The 450 villagers/ land owners having 2,500 acres among them, now want the forest department to take their lands by paying suitable compensation. The villagers have voluntarily submitted their RTCs to the department seeking Rs 15 lakh as compensation three years back. Hassan deputy commissioner Anbu Kumar has called for a meeting with villagers on December 10 to discuss the issue.