Newly recruited forest guards in tiger reserve Palamu have been advised not to wear white and red colour shirt or trousers or both as elephants have a strong dislike for these two colours said Deputy Director North of PTR AK Mishra.
Mishra said this note of advice was given to 106 forest guards on Saturday August 12 which is a World Elephant Day.
Explaining the dislike of elephants for these two colours white and red, Mishra said a study conducted all over India has shown that elephants have spotted and targeted person wearing red or white shirt or trousers or both in the mob more than person wearing other colour shirts/ trousers.
Sources said the forest guards have been asked to see that there is no escalation of any man wild life conflict. Elephant’s conflict with man is most acute as elephants raid standing crops, destroy houses and trample unsuspecting and a non cautious person to death if the person comes in the way of elephants. Forest guards have been given tips about mixing red chili and cow dung to drive away the elephants. An elephant with tail upward is a sign of aggression like if the elephant expands its ear fans. PTR has nearly 178 elephants out of which 22 are in the north division. Sources said, 40 elephants die per year in India. The cause of deaths is multi faceted like accident, poaching, poison, disease, death by age, getting run over by trains etc.
