On the frontlines of an elephantine conflict
(WorldNews India)

It´s just a few minutes shy of 10 p.m on a rain-soaked night at one of the `camps` set up in one the conflict-prone zones in Pandalur. Forest guard, V. Louis gets a phone call from a worried resident. An elephant is chasing motorists along a road. The team of forest staff on the frontlines of the human-elephant conflict, known as the Anti-Depredation Squads (ADS), clamber into their SUV and rush to Athima Nagar, cutting through a tea estate. `It`s probably `Mogara Veengi´, a lone tusker,` says Gobi. By the time we get there 15 minutes later, with fire crackers and other noise-makers, the elephant has gotten off the road and into one of the vast tea estates.Preventing confrontation Every day,...