Crop raiding by forest elephants

As the lands for human use expanded, people and elephants have had more frequent contacts. In range states of African elephants, they have problems of crop praiding by elephants: People's properties are broken, or children are frightened and cannot go to school, and in the worst case, those who tried to chase elephants away are killed by them. On the other hand elephants are also killed by farmers due to anger, or persistant marauders of crop fields are killed by wildlife authorities. Specialists are studying methods how they can prevent elephants' approach to crop fields, for example, using strong chili pepper.
Around the Odzala National Park, crop raiding by elephants had been reported, but had not been systematically investigated. Therefore, I engaged in a research for a year to investigate the situation of the problem. In 2004 elephants showed up in some fields within the park which were the farthest from the village, from July to September.

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Crop raiding by forest elephants
As the lands for human use expanded, people and elephants have had more frequent contacts. In range states of African elephants, they have problems of crop praiding by elephants: People's properties are broken, or children are frightened and cannot go to school, and in the worst case, those who tried to chase elephants away are killed by them. On the other hand elephants are also killed by farmers due to anger, or persistant marauders of crop fields are killed by wildlife authorities. Specialists are studying methods how they can prevent elephants' approach to crop fields, for example, using strong chili pepper. Around the Odzala National Park, crop raiding by elephants had been reported, but had not been systematically investigated. Therefore, I engaged in a research for a year to investigate the situation of the problem. In 2004 elephants showed up in some fields within the park which were the farthest from the village, from July to September.


This is a typical crop field which a farmer opened a forest: It is surrounded by the forest.		It is mixed cultivation of cassava, banana and other vegetables. Fallen trees are left, and weeds grow very fast. Of course they don't use agricultural chemicals.

One day elephants began raiding crops: they ripped off banana trees and ate them, dug out cassava tubers, and damaged their roots by stepping on them.		Elephants devastated pineapples which did not bear fruits yet; they seemed to eat the core of the leaves. Nobody could not see elephants as they marauded farms at night.

Exit of a field into the forest which elephants opened.		Juvenile elephant's footprints were also left.
		In 2004 crop raiding by elephants was a problem only to the limited villagers: 6% of the total fields were raided; most of which were located the farthest from the village, within the national park. They demonstrate slash and burn shifting cultivation with 2 to 3 years cycle, so it is a top priority not to cultivate deep into the park for avoiding crop damage by elephants. To cultivate elephants' habitat is like to give them food. In reality, however, they say they cannot choose their sites as the forests are inherited from their ancestors. It needs involvement of the local government. The victims suffered not only from crop loss but also by mental shock that their labor of planting and tending crops was wasted. On the contrary ordinary villagers are suffering from theft, rather than pest animals. Certain farmer abandoned his pineapple farm due to rampant theft.
Elephants scratched their body with a fallen tree in the field.

Forest elephants in the Odzala National Park　　　Crop raiding by forest elephants Elephants in the forest...　　　Poaching of forest elephants　　　 Eco-guards of the Odzala National Park　　　Wildlife in Odzala