In the wake of frequent elephant deaths reported in Odisha in the recent past, the State government in collaboration with East Coast Railway has discovered a unique way to protect the wildlife. Forest department will install devices which mimic the humming of a swarm of bees.
At a high level meeting held at state secretariat between the Forest, Energy and Railway authorities , it was decided to install special ‘honey bee’ machines alongside railway tracks to prevent elephants getting hit by trains.
When any train comes, the machines would produce and amplify the sound of swarming bees, hearing which elephants would run away. Elephants usually avoid bees so as to avoid the risk of bees entering their trunks.
The innovative device will be implemented at Sadashivpur Railway Station in Dhenkanal district as a pilot project
Notably, the “Plan Bee” launched by the Indian Railways in the Northeast Frontier Railways (NFR) zone in November last year has been a great success.
To save the elephants from train mishaps in Odisha, the State Forest and Environment department had signed a MoU with the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) on May 10, 2013. The MoU had underlined identification of critical accident-prone areas along the railway tracks,understanding the cause for these accidents and steps to be taken for site-specific mitigation.
