The State Govt plan to mitigate the man-elephant by trans-locating the elephants from Coorg & Hassan to the forests near Bangalore has been turned down by the High Court. The high court said;
“Animals should live in their natural habitat and it is up to humans to adjust. “
The Govt has been instructed to seek advise from experts in India & Africa before they plan for such an exercise.
The past decade has seen a drastic rise in man-elephant conflict in Hassan & Coorg. Elephants entering farms and plantations has been a common sight in many parts of Coorg. Encroachment by humans of reserve forest, pysari land and revenue forest near their villages, which the elephants had been foraging for long, has only escalated the conflict.
According to the last census 260 elephants were counted in Virajpet circle and 245 in Madikeri. Nagarhole National Park had a maximum of 792 elephants and a minimum of 443 elephants with a mean population of 617 elephants.