Evaluation of people’s perceptions towards human-elephant conflict in and around Bannerghatta national Park
Venkataramana G. V. , Sreenivasa and Lingaraju H. G
Department of Studies in Environmental Science, University of Mysore, Mysore,India
Abstract
An assessment of human attitudes, towards elephant (Elephas maximus), is necessary in formulating appropriate policies for conserving wildlife. The aim of this study is to test the extent of how the experience people have of wild elephants influences their perceptions of, and attitudes towards, them, and to identify factors influencing their attitudes towards the conservation of elephants in the wild. This study was carried out in three villages near BNP through in-depth interviews of men (N = 70) and women (N = 20). Farming (49 %) is the major source of income for the local community. The majority of the respondents said that wild elephants caused anxiousness. A majority (58 %) of the people felt that deforestation in BNP (the neighboring territorial forests) has resulted in a higher human-elephant conflict. Variety of cultivated crops have been damaged by elephant, ragi (34%) was raided the most among all the cultivated crops. A variety of traditional mitigating methods are being used to combat conflict, but they were ineffective according to participants. Majority of them suggested regular patrolling (39 %) by the forest department officials and special joint patrolling (with villagers) is highly efficient methods to mitigate problem.
Attitudes, Bannerghatta National Park, Crop raiding, Perceptions, Solar fences
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial- 4.0 International License (CC BY- NC 4.0)
© ASEA
Received: 20.03.2015
Revised: 27.06.2015
Accepted: 02.08.2015
First Online: 15.12. 2015
Publisher Name: Action for Sustainable Efficacious Development and Awareness (ASEA)
Print : 0972-3099
Online :2278-5124