Coimbatore: A seminar on 'Human Elephant Bonding' was organised at PSG College of Arts and Science by the college Eco-Club on Wednesday to discuss the man-animal conflict in different perspective as a part of Kovai Vizha 11th edition celebration.
“What you feed your soul is what you will express. The act of conservation cannot be forced and having a better understanding of these creatures will help one do that,” said R.Suganya, former secretary of the Eco-Club, PSGCAS who discussed Human Elephant Bonding’.
Suganya said, “Fascinating were those days in the Eco-Club with me as a street play artist.”
The main aim was to take conservation to local people in an appealing way.
The impact it created and how people imbibe the theme excited them, recalls the enthusiastic nature lover.
Elephants and their importance, elephants of Coimbatore, human-elephant conflict, how students can involve themselves in conservation of nature and environment were the topics discussed.
Coimbatore, blessed with Ghats, has an elephant population spanning seven forest ranges. It is not more than 20 years since the conflict has increased.
Increasing encroachments and fight for resources bring behavioural changes in elephants, explained Dr. C R Jayaprakash, head of the Communication department.
He added that elephants raid fields close to the forest fringe which leads to frequent man-animal conflict.
He urged students to understand nature and elephant behavior for engaging themselves in the work of human animal bonding.
The experts and the students had a discussion on whether the translocation of elephants is a solution for crop raiding, the recent human elephant conflicts here, why tamed elephants are killing their own mahouts and how human elephant bonding can serve as an initiative to reduce these conflicts.
