A study examined the impact of organized guarding and short-distance drives on human and elephant deaths from human-elephant conflict in Sonitpur district, Assam, using data over 20 years. The findings indicated that organized guarding did not conclusively reduce human deaths and was associated with a significantly higher rate of elephant mortality, suggesting that these interventions may unintentionally lead to increased accidental kills of elephants. The research underscores the need for thorough evaluations of conflict mitigation strategies.
Source: Conservation biology., europepmc.org