KVIC's RE-HAB project to prevent elephant-human conflict using bees

New Delhi: Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) on Monday launched a unique project of creating "bee-fences" to mitigate human-elephant conflicts in the country, but it's a reality as the initiative has been taken to reduce elephant-human attacks using bees. The pilot project RE-HAB, which has been launched in Karnataka, is a sub-mission of KVIC's National Honey Mission and bee boxes have been used as a fence to prevent the attack of elephants.

The project that will cost just Rs 15 lakh launched at four locations around village Chelur in Kodagu district of Karnataka by KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena. These spots are located on the periphery of Nagarhole National Park and Tiger Reserve and are known to be human-elephant conflict zones.

KVIC has set up 15-20 interspersed bee boxes at each of the four locations and these bees boxes are set up in the passageways of elephant-human conflict zones to block the entrance of elephants to human habitations.

Commenting on the initiative, KVIC chairman Saxena said, "This unique initiative has been taken as a sustainable resolution to the human-elephant conflicts that are common in several parts of the country."

"It has been scientifically recorded that elephants are annoyed and even frightened of honey bees. Elephants fear that the bee swarms can bite their sensitive inner side of the trunk and eyes. The collective buzz of the bees is annoying to elephants that force them to return. Elephants, who are the most intelligent animal and carry their memories for long, avoid returning to the place where they have encountered honey bees," Saxena said.

"The biggest advantage of project RE-HAB is that it dissuades elephants without causing any harm to them. Besides, it is extremely cost-effective as compared to various other measures like digging trenches or erecting fences," Saxena added.

"The boxes are connected with a string so that when elephants attempt to pass through, a tug or pull causes the bees to swarm the elephant herds and dissuade them from progressing further. Bee boxes have been placed on the ground as well as hung from the trees to block the passageway of elephants," the KVIC said in a statement.

It further added that high resolution, night vision cameras have also been installed at strategic points to record the impact of bees on elephants and their behaviour in these zones.

Nearly 500 people die every year due to elephant attacks in India, which is nearly 10 times more than the fatalities caused by big cats across the country.

Notably, nearly 2,500 people have lost their lives in elephant attacks between 2015 to 2020 and of these deaths, nearly 170 human fatalities have been reported in Karnataka alone.