This week an elderly man was killed by a wild elephant in central India as he picked tendu leaves in the Surajpur forest. A few days earlier, a father and his son were injured after two elephants wandered into their house in Tamil Nadu. As human populations grow and communities live in closer proximity to elephants, one of the world’s most unique and beautiful animals can become the most dangerous.
But human development is also contributing to the severe decline in elephant populations. Across Asia and Africa, elephants’ natural habitats are being destroyed by rapid urbanisation and industrial and agricultural expansion.
Join a panel of experts on Wednesday 24 May from 1.00pm to 2.30pm BST to discuss how to mitigate the human-elephant conflict. Questions will include:
- Is it possible for humans and elephants to live together?
- How can we ease the impact of urbanisation and agriculture on elephants and their habitats?
- What ways can the human-elephant conflict be brought into conservation work?
The panel
- Will Travers, president, Born Free Foundation, Horsham, UK @willtravers @BFFoundation @BornFreeUSA
- Lucy King, head of human-elephant co-existence programme, Save the Elephants, @ste_kenya
- Emily Wilson, UK campaigns officer, World Animal Protection, London, UK @MoveTheWorldUK
More to be announced ...
How to contact us
Have you got a comment on the human-elephant conflict? Or do you have a question for our experts? Want to recommend someone for the panel? Email us at elephant.conservation@theguardian.com, use the hashtag #savingelephants, or add your thoughts in the comments below.
The live chat is not video or audio-enabled but will take place in the comments section (below).
