Surya and Kaushala Budha live together with their children and grandfather Amar Budha in the village of Rajipur on the edge of Bardia National Park in Nepal. In the early hours of 11 April 2017 they were suddenly awoken by a loud bang on their house. The sound was coming from a large male elephant in search of a snack. Surya and Kaushala’s house has two storeys; rice is stored downstairs and the family sleeps upstairs. The elephant was not merely here by chance – this was the seventh time this year that an elephant had come looking for rice to eat, so there was definitely a reason for its visit.

It was an anxious night, the elephant made a lot of noise and the children screamed. The family tried to chase the elephant off by shouting loudly and hitting the wall with sticks, but the elephant would not be deterred and went straight for what he was looking for. He broke a hole in the base of the wall, nearly demolishing the entire wall. The animal gained access to the store of rice, which he ate with pleasure. The tears well up in Grandpa Amar´s eyes when he recounts how frightened the grandchildren were. The elephant’s night-time visit not only created fear, but also led to the complete destruction of the house and the loss of the family’s rice store. For the time being, the family still has enough to eat, but they are unable to earn any money from selling the rice at the market. Kaushala is in despair and says that she would immediately leave if she were able to get help in doing so because it is extremely difficult to make ends meet in such circumstances.

To get out of the forest, the elephant crossed a narrow river and knocked over an electric fence at the edge of the forest, which was a snap since he was easily able to reach the wooden posts without getting a shock. Surya and Kaushala would like to have a better fence around their fields to limit the damage from elephants. It is for this reason they are actively involved in a project to develop a new type of fence. The project is being run by the Himalayan Tiger Foundation, WWF and the Nepalese National Trust for Nature Conservation. 

©Maya Yogi Thapa/ WWF TAL programme

Despite the heavy damage that the family has suffered, Surya, Kaushala and Amar do not blame the elephant. This is simply an easy way for him to get a meal, they say, but it makes it extremely difficult to stay afloat. 

About the Human Wildlife Conflict Tech Challenge

Technology is increasingly seen as a useful tool in mitigating environmental issues, and one of those issues that this technology development is needed is human-wildlife conflict. With Human Wildlife Conflict Tech Challenge, WWF and WILDLABS challenged engineers, designers, innovative thinkers and makers to create new or improved tools to prevent conflict between humans and wildlife. The two best solutions will receive a prize of 30,000 EUR to further develop and test their ideas in the field. The two winners will be announced on the 20th October, 2017.    

About the Author

Femke Hilderink is part of the Forest & Wildlife Team at WWF- Netherlands.  She works on human-wildlife conflict related issues and conservation programmes in Asia and the Arctic. Currently, she is also working on the Human Wildlife Conflict Tech Challenge.