In 2007, I began working on a document, Action Plan for the Mitigation of Elephant-human Conflict in India, with Professor R. Sukumar. Since researchers had studied elephants and their impacts on agricultural produce for nearly three decades, I had assumed it could be a role model for solving problems with other conflict-prone animals.

Over three years, I visited projects in the Nilgiris, Odisha, northern West Bengal, and Assam. I also read hundreds of publications on studies and observations from Africa to … Read More