Odisha Installs Hanging Solar Wire Fence To Protect Elephants

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Solar power can be put to noble purposes and the eastern state of Odisha has shown one. In a key development, the Keonjhar Forest Division has undertaken a project to install hanging wire fences that will be powered by solar energy with a purpose to curb and eliminate deaths of elephants in the area. The solar wire fences are being installed in the Joda area of Keonjhar.

The solar-based project for wildlife protection has been initiated by HD Dhanraj, District Forest Officer, Keonjhar, Odisha. The inauguration function of the solar wire fencing was also attended by Kalatar Naik, Joda Block Chairman and Jagdish Prasad Sahu, the Municipality Chairperson.

There was a lot of disturbance in the elephants’ movement in the Joda section of Champua forest range. Locals held that elephants would deviate from the natural routes and even went to the railway lines to search for food. Many accidents have taken place on the rail tracks.

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Earlier this year, there was a report from the Joda forest that a female elephant and two calves were mowed by a goods train. Now the forest division is utilising the solar energy by putting up a 750 metre long wire fence on both sides of the railway tracks running from Creche hutting to Behera hutting.

As per the forest administration, the solar based infrastructure will generate an electric charge for just three milliseconds through the installed fences in case an animal comes in contact with a fence. The electric shock is for such a short duration that no animal death or casualty is possible. However, there will be no loss of lives due to the electric shock. The objective is just to prevent them from reaching the railway lines.

Tripura’s forest department is also mulling to put solar powered fencing in some areas to eliminate man-elephant conflict. Last year, the Himachal Pradesh Government stepped in to support the farmers of the state with a subsidy to install solar powered fences to protect their farms.

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