Assam to study revival of wild elephant domestication to reduce human-elephant conflict

Published 15 July 2026 · politics

GUWAHATI The Assam government may weigh the pros and cons of reviving the practice of capturing wild elephants for captive use or domestication to check

GUWAHATI The Assam government may weigh the pros and cons of reviving the practice of capturing wild elephants for captive use or domestication to check human-elephant conflict. Forest and Environment Minister Jayanta Mallabaruah told journalists on Wednesday (July 15, 2026) that the 126-member Assembly discussed conflicts between humans and animals, specifically elephants and monkeys. “We received certain suggestions to resolve the crisis across the State. We have more suggestions by July 20, so that we can prepare a standard operating procedure to guide future action by July 22,” he said. Mallabaruah said reviving mela shikar was among the suggestions. The term in Assam refers to a traditional method of catching wild elephants for captive use or domestication.

The practice involves mahouts riding on trained captive elephants (koonkies) to track, encircle, and lasso a targeted wild elephant. “Mela shikar is out of the question in protected areas and jungles. It can be a possibility in non-forest areas experiencing human-elephant conflict, but it requires a scientific study and the Centre’s approval,” he said. “There is a perception in Assam that mela shikar in the olden days kept the wild elephant population in check,” he added. Mallabaruah admitted that instances of human-elephant conflict have increased over the past few years, claiming at least 150 human lives every year and damaging crops across large swathes of land.

“Apart from Forest officials and wildlife experts, we plan to involve the local administration and the local MLA in deciding which areas need solar or bio-fencing and which areas need elephant-friendly plantations to keep the animals away from human settlements,” he said. “A key decision approved by the Chief Minister is to increase the compensation for deaths due to conflict with elephants from the current ₹4 lakh to ₹6 lakh. However, it is not enough to just increase the compensation amount; releasing it quickly to the kin of a victim is crucial,” the Minister said. He said the government is finalising a policy to ensure that a victim’s kin receive the compensation within 72 hours of an incident.

Mallabaruah said farmers, particularly those engaged in horticulture, have also been suffering because of conflicts with monkeys. “The monkey population has increased exponentially [experts attribute it to the diminishing number of leopards, which prey on primates]. Himachal Pradesh has experimented successfully with sterilisation, a method we seek to adopt,” he said. Sterilisation or any other method to control the “monkey menace” would apply to the common rhesus macaque and not rare primates, including the golden langur and the hoolock gibbon, the Minister said.