Human-Elephant Conflict: Odisha Forest Officials To Undergo Training In Bengal

Bhubaneswar: Taking note of the rising incidents of human-elephant conflicts, the Odisha government has decided to send Forest Department officers to West Bengal for training.

“The West Bengal government has been successful in bringing down the incidents of human-elephant conflicts. We will, therefore, send some senior Forest officials to the neighbouring state this month for  specialised training,” Chief Wildlife Warden Hari Shankar Upadhya told mediapersons here on Thursday.

He also said that the state government has decided to procure special vehicles from West Bengal. These will be used to rescue the people from the elephant attack, he added.

Referring to the tracking of the elephants that frequently stray into the human habitations in some areas in Talcher and Angul, Upadhyay said the Indian Institute of Science has given the estimate of the radio collars. “Radio collars will be tagged to the marauding elephants. These will help us to track their movement easily and take necessary action to drive them out of human habitations,” he added.