Odisha elephants to have radio collars; MoU signed with Bengaluru company

With an aim to minimize man-elephant conflicts, the Odisha Forest department is going to put radio collars around the neck of elephants. 

The Forest department has recently signed a MoU with a Bengaluru-based company. This company will put the radio collar around an elephant's neck which will help the Forest department keep track of the movement of the pachyderms. 

In the first phase, radio collars will be fitted to three elephants. Later, it will be expanded. 

While three new tools - radio collaring, solar power fencing, and installation of high mast lights - have been added to the existing ‘Gajasathi’ programme, the Forest department mulls extending the ‘Gajasathi’ programme to 2000 villages. 

Under the solar power fencing programme, 43 villages of Bantala area in Angul district are going to have solar power fencing facilities. This apart, an ‘early warning system’ will be installed in the areas frequented by jumbos. 

Going to explain the ‘early warning system’, PCCF (Wildlife) Sushil Kumar Popali said, “This system is GSM SIM based. When our trackers, who are five to six people in a single group, get to know that an elephant has come closer to a village, they will call a given number following which an alarm will go off and red light will be on at the place, sending out a warning to the villagers so that they can take measures to save life and property.”