COIMBATORE: Man-animal conflict cuts across states. Hence, there are always lessons to be learnt from others states that have seen wild animals doing irreparable damage to people and crops. 

On Sunday, S Sashikumar, an Indian Forest Services official who is now on deputation to the passport office in Coimbatore, spoke about his experiences while guarding the forests of West Bengal. "The problem of man-animal conflict, especially between elephants and forest dwellers, is older in West Bengal than in Tamil Nadu. Therefore, Tamil Nadu can learn a lot from there," said Sashikumar. 

"Though a lot remains to be done in West Bengal towards containing the problem of man-elephant conflict, the problems remain largely resolved due to the timely steps taken by the forest department and increased awareness among villagers," he said. Tamil Nadu, especially Coimbatore, which face severe problem with elephants damaging crops, could learn from West Bengal's experience, he said. 

"When I was posted in north Bengal, a herd of 100 elephants used a route to go through tribal hamlets. Over time, we taught villagers to chase the herd using fire called 'halla' (thee pantham). With increased awareness among villagers, they began welcoming the annual event," he said. 

He also spoke of village-level committees that were formed to increase awareness among villagers and the mitigation measures taken by the forest department. He said forest officials there were a dedicated lot and that helped resolve the issue. 

The function was organised by Osai, a city-based NGO that works on environmental issues. K Kalidas of Osai said they had helped rescue birds that were found helpless by residents. "We cannot protect all of wildlife, but in the way of giving respect to the callers, we rescued the birds to show concern," he said.