Depredation by Wildlife in the Fringe Areas of North Bengal Forests with Special Reference to Elephant Damage

Forests of North Bengal occupies the sub-Himalayan belt and it is fragmented by tea gardens and cultivation. There is a small population of wild elephants in this zone whose number in the past years varied from 150 to 200. The entire sub-Himalayan forests from Assan to Bihar form a single home range or wid elephants; but due to fragmented condition of the forests the elephants during their seasonal movement have to pass through tea gardens, cultivation and homesteed causing serious disturbance to the population living by the side of forest. The human casualty figure by wild elephants in the area rose upto about 60 persons a year causing lot of resentment and local problems. The compensation paid on account of human casualty, crop depredation and loss of livestock has alao touched a figure of Rs. 141akhs a year. This issued of elephant depredation has, therefore, been a major concern to the Wildlife Wing of the Directorate in recent years. The article analyses the cause of man-elephant confrontation on the background of population dynamics and the high density of human population in the State. This also highlights the various recommendations made for control of this depredation as well as the action programme already taken by the State Govt. to reduce the man-elephant confrontation. The necessity of launching eco-development programme for elevation of economic standard of local people to reduce their dependence on forest and forest produces for daily sustenance has been identified as one of the major steps in control of this depredation in addition to normal preventive and remedial measures enlisted in the article.