Guwahati, Oct 17: Two mature elephants died on September 18 and October 6, allegedly due to deliberate
electrocution, in Tamulpur and the adjacent Baksa district respectively. Another person died on September
25 in Tamulpur district following an encounter with a lone wild elephant.
With such serious incidents occurring in the last one and a half months, Aaranyak could not delay its
response. Further, with the harvesting season underway, human–elephant conflicts are peaking in several
parts of Western Assam.
With support from the IUCN SSC Center for Species Survival Asian Elephant Rapid Response 2026 Grant
and in collaboration with the Assam State Forest Department, Aaranyak conducted two community
consultation-cum-awareness workshops for four project villages in Tamulpur district on October 9, 2026 as
an immediate intervention.
One workshop was held in Santipur village and the other in Abhaypur village of the district.
These community consultation meetings primarily focused on pre-implementation community engagement,
wherein villagers from the proposed project villages under the 2026 Grant expressed their willingness to
participate, suggested suitable locations for the installation of human–elephant conflict (HEC) mitigation
tools, and helped identify key individuals and households that require searchlights to navigate during dark
hours in the villages or guard their commons against elephant intrusions.
These meetings ensured that the communities were fully informed and that there was complete transparency
regarding the implementation of any human–elephant conflict mitigation activities.
The interactions also provided an opportunity to understand the communities’ willingness and perceptions
regarding such activities, both in the present and in the days to come.
With the communities right next to us, we took this ideal and rare opportunity to also engage with them on
elephant conservation education and awareness of human–elephant co-existence. Almost 110 individuals
participated in the two programmes.
Anushka Saikia, Project Officer of Aaranyak’s Elephant Research and Conservation Division (ERCD), who
is also the grantee of the IUCN SSC CSS Asian elephant Rapid Response 2026 Grant, moderated the
sessions, while Abhilasha Boruah, Project Officer of the same division, conducted the awareness sessions.
Aaranyak’s field and ground staff, Rupam Goyari, Abhijit Saikia, and Sachin Basnet, provided facilitation
support during the programmes. The programmes were also graced by forest staff from the Kumarikata
Range of Tamulpur district.