Bhichet Noonto. Managing human-elephant conflict (HEC) based on elephant and human behaviors : a case study at Thong Pha Phum National Park, Kanchanaburi, Thailand . Master's Degree(Environmental Biology ). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2009.
Managing human-elephant conflict (HEC) based on elephant and human behaviors : a case study at Thong Pha Phum National Park, Kanchanaburi, Thailand
Abstract:
Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC), a serious conservation issue in Asia and Africa, has
been causing the loss of human and elephant lives. HEC has been studied in many regions (especially
the responses of elephants and humans through various mitigation methods) but in Asia there have been
fewer reports. Behavioral perspectives were applied to assess the effects of implementation of
mitigation methods on humans and elephants. Elephant crop raiding incidents in six villages of Huai
Khayeng District around Thong Pha Phum National Park were recorded by villagers from October 2006
to December 2008. Elephant crop raiding patterns, elephant responses to trial and non-trial farms (trial
farms have set up guards and communication, and using repellent tools as a protection system), and
elephant responses to six repellent stimuli were noted. The scientific data were shared with and used by
villagers and local farmers as an information base for democratic decision making regarding HEC in the
two villages, Pak Lum Pilok (PK) and Huai Khayeng (HK) village. Human behavioral responses to
mitigations were evaluated in 2007 after implementing ecotourism as a treatment. Human aggression,
grouping, and cooperation were studied to detect the effect of incentive-driven conservation on human
responses.
The results showed that male elephants and family groups of elephants raided palatable
crops equally. Their preference was for cassava, which was mostly attacked in the ripening period.
Raiding was exclusively at night, but the peak was reached before midnight, and solitary male elephants
raided for longer periods of time than other groups. The raiding group sizes fluctuated monthly
especially for family groups. However, male elephants raided with a maximum group size of only two
individuals. The trial farms affected spatial distribution of elephants by increasing distances to trial
farms. After 2006 crop raiding frequency in trial farms has been decreasing. However, non-trial farms
have been attacked more frequently after protection systems were set up in trial villages. Family groups
avoided trial farms when compared to male elephants. The combination of light and sound repellent
stimuli can elicit fleeing responses and reduce raiding duration more than a single repellent stimulus.
Farmers have adjusted their responses by developing preferable strategies to reduce crop loss. PK
villagers used ecotourism to mitigate HEC. Their aggression was reduced (gun use disappeared) and
spent more time on cooperating to solve HEC than HK villagers who used only the protection system.
The long-term solution should consider the effect of implementation on both elephants and humans. A
protective strategy is essential in some areas but a sustainable solution should move toward mitigative
strategy as an incentive scheme to create real conservation behavior in humans and formulate
conditional learning for coexistence between humans and elephants.