West Bengal villagers use bees to repel jumbos

Residents of a village in the Alipurduar district of West Bengal have found unique allies in driving wild elephants away from their homes and crops. It’s bees.

The village of Nurpur is close to the Buxa Tiger Reserve and has always been the target of wild jumbos who frequently enter and destroy the livelihoods of the villagers. Elephants destroyed their crops, their homes and often caused human deaths. Villagers even stopped leaving their homes at night for fear of being attacked by elephants.

About a year ago, large numbers of villagers began to migrate to other places in search of livelihoods.

But then a local NGO, Saontalpur Nagorik Adhikar Surokha Welfare Society, along with wildlife experts suggested that every household in the village get into beekeeping. With around 33 acres of land used for growing mustard in the village, the bees found a suitable condition and began to thrive.

Locals said that a few months after the bees settled in, the elephants began to avoid the village. Not only have bees kept wild elephants away, residents have started collecting around 20 liters of honey per month from each hive.

Saontalpur Nagorik Adhikar Surokha Welfare Society secretary Sadananda Chakrabarti said villagers were unhappy due to the frequent elephant attacks.

“Then we started to consult with experts and suggested that the villagers get into beekeeping. Now, there has been no elephant attack for about a year. Agriculture and fruit production have increased dramatically. Even during the pandemic, the villagers are able to support themselves, ”said Chakrabarti.

Praising the initiative, Ujjwal Ghosh, Chief Conservator of the North Bengal Forest, said: “Elephants are extremely intelligent animals. Research has shown that they prefer to stay away from bees because of their sting and noise. As the elephants have not entered the village for about a year, it appears that the initiative has worked. But we have to watch for about a year to be sure, ”Ghosh said.

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