Fixing India’s lethal battle between people and elephants

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The country is home to the world’s largest population of Asian elephants, a species listed as endangered, with declining populations across its home range of 13 countries. Their forest habitats are being eroded by agriculture and infrastructure, as India’s growing population of almost 1.4 billion people expands further into wild spaces.

“One of the biggest challenges in India is the fact that we have less than 5% of land set aside for wildlife, and there are millions of people who live adjacent to our protected areas or inside,” says Krithi Karanth, chief conservation scientist and executive director of the Centre for Wildlife Studies, headquartered in Bangalore, southern India.

At around 10 feet tall and weighing up to five tons, an elephant eats around 330 lbs (150kg) of food per day — mostly grass, leaves and bark. But more nutritious crops like sugarcane, rice and bananas can be especially enticing.
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