Project RE-HAB

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Project RE-HAB (Reducing Elephant Human Attacks using Bees) has been started at Nagarhole National Park in Kodagu district of Karnataka.

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• To keep elephants away from human territories, State governments have followed various means in the past like digging up trenches, erecting rail fencing and spiked pillars, and putting up electric fences and electric wire curtains. But all these efforts not only failed but also landed up killing more elephants.
• This unique and cost-effective project has been initiated by Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) in a phased manner.
• Under this project bee boxes are used as a fence to prevent elephants from entering human habitation, thus minimizing loss of lives and property and thus halting elephant-human conflicts without bringing about any harm to both.
• Elephants basically fear that the honey bees might sting them in their eyes and the inside the trunk. They are also very much irritated by the buzz of the bees.
• This step has found the movement of elephants in human territory has fallen down to a great extent due to the fear of bees, thus preventing loss of crops and property.
• Project RE-HAB has the capacity to give results and it is planned to be implemented in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala as they are major elephant-human conflict zones.