Human-elephant conflict: attitudes of local people toward elephants and the conflict management authority in a shared landscape of India

ABSTRACT

Human-elephant conflict (HEC) is one of the major conservation challenges for elephants. To address this issue, understanding the ecological and sociological perspectives of HEC is crucial. In North Bengal, India, we explored 25 electrocution cases of Asiatic elephants (Elephas maximus) and surveyed the attitudes of 209 local people toward elephants and the HEC management authority (forest officials). We used open-ended and closed-ended questionnaires in the surveys and binomial logistic regressions to analyze the datasets. We observed that electrocutions primarily occurred during cropping seasons and adult elephants mostly died in these incidences. Despite experiencing high HEC, most respondents had a positive attitude toward elephants. However, they felt differently about the forest officials. Key factors driving their attitudes include cultural, emotional, and economic associations with elephants, HEC-related costs, and perceptions of HEC management. Community participatory approaches and financial and technical support are recommended for local people in HEC management.

KEYWORDS:

• Attitude
• conservation
• electrocution
• Elephas maximus
• endangered species
• shared landscape

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the PCCF and Chief Wildlife Warden, Government of West Bengal, for granting permission to conduct this study and the CCF Wildlife North, CCF & Field Director Buxa Tiger Reserve, DFO Gorumara, DFO, Jaldapara, DFD, Buxa East, and West for cooperating during this study. We thank the frontline forest staff of Buxa, Jaldapara, and Gorumara for their assistance during field surveys. We also thank all the villages, Pradhans, Sarpanch, and Mukhias, who assisted during the fieldwork. We express our sincere gratitude to the editor in chief, Human Dimensions of Wildlife, and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments, suggestions, and English edits, which enhanced the quality of the manuscript.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data Availability Statement

This article includes all the relevant data collected during the field surveys.

Ethical Declaration

Before conducting the field survey, necessary approval was obtained from the concerned authority, that is, the Government of West Bengal (Memo No. 53/wl4R11 (PF-XV)/2021). The authors also obtained verbal permission from the village heads (Pradhans) and authority from Teagardens prior to conducting the interviews. Before the survey, the respondents were made aware that their statements could be used for presentations and scientific publications at the national and international levels.

Authors Contribution

SKD: Conception, study design, analysis and interpretation; drafted the manuscript and review writing. SG: Execution, acquisition of data, drafted the manuscript and resources. RD & DD: Execution, acquisition of data. SN & TD: Interpretation, Guidance. GS: Interpretation, drafted the manuscript and review writing. All the authors have approved the final version of this manuscript.