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Perception and attitude of tribal people towards human-elephant conflicts in Gorumara National Park: A Study of Purba Kantadighi Kumarpara Village, Jalpaiguri District, WB, India

Author Affiliations

  • 1Department of Geography, Sree Chaitanya College, Habra, District: North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India

Int. Res. J. Environment Sci., Volume 10, Issue (3), Pages 55-61, July,22 (2021)

Abstract

Human-wildlife conflict arises due to direct and indirect negative interactions between them in and around forest areas. This could be potentially harmful to both sides and leads to negative human attitudes towards wildlife. This type of conflict causes economic losses particularly hampering of crop productions, agricultural activities and collection of non-timber forest products. Often human-wildlife conflicts become fatal due to their rivalries for food and niche. Human-elephant conflict in and around Gorumara National Park of West Bengal is a perfect example of this scenario. Gorumara is the natural habitat of approx 104 Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus) among them 85 is residential. Here elephant density is 1.06/km2, one of the highest in the world. The study area, Purba Kantadighi Kumarpara (26°43'38.26"N, 88°45'52.02"E), is a small tribal village, situated at the western fringe Gorumara National Park, under Kumali Panchayat in Mal Bazar Police Station of Jalpaiguri district. It is inhabited by only 115 tribal people of 20 families; most of them are engaged in subsistence marginal farm activities. Due to proximity to forest, crop-raiding and damages of household properties by elephants is a recurring event here. This is a case study on human-elephant conflicts in Purba Kantadighi Kumarpara village, emphasising on people’s perceptions and attitudes regarding this fact.

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