Buxa Tiger Reserve to equip jumbo squad vehicles with sirens; to prevent human-elephant conflicts

Alipurduar: To minimise casualties during elephant intrusions in forest-adjacent villages, the Buxa Tiger Reserve (BTR) has launched a new initiative by equipping its elephant squad vehicles with sirens. These sirens will serve as audio alerts, urging residents to remain indoors during elephant movement in the area.

With the onset of the monsoon, wild elephant activity in human settlements across Alipurduar district has increased significantly. To address the rising risk, the Forest department has decided to provide 20 sirens to its field teams. In parallel, awareness drives using megaphones will be intensified during both day and night hours and 18 more megaphones are being procured for this purpose. According to officials, previous awareness efforts using microphones mounted on departmental vehicles or e-rickshaws had limited impact, as many villagers mistook them for commercial announcements. As a result, forest officials have now shifted focus toward conducting awareness campaigns at rural markets, weekly haats and playgrounds — locations where people regularly gather. In some cases, locals will be assembled to listen to elephant alert messages delivered via megaphone.

A recent survey conducted by the Buxa Tiger Project revealed that more than 200 elephants have been residing for the past 15 days in the North and South Raidak ranges to the east and the Nimati and Hamiltonganj ranges to the west. At night, these elephants often disperse into smaller groups and enter nearby villages in search of food. Apurba Sen, Field Director of Buxa Tiger Reserve, stated: “It has been raining every night for the past few days, making it difficult for villagers to detect the presence of elephants. Even minor noises are triggering panic, with people stepping outside to investigate — often putting themselves at risk. To prevent such incidents, we will activate sirens in the affected areas continuously while elephants are present, and conduct awareness drives in local markets using megaphones.”