Human-elephant conflict: attitudes of local people toward elephants and the conflict management authority in a shared landscape of India

Human-elephant conflict (HEC) is one of the major conservation challenges for elephants. To address this issue, understanding the ecological and sociological perspectives of HEC is crucial. In North Bengal, India, we explored 25 electrocution cases of Asiatic elephants (Elephas maximus) and surveyed the attitudes of 209 local people toward elephants and the HEC management authority (forest officials). We used open-ended and closed-ended questionnaires in the surveys and binomial logistic regressions to analyze the datasets. We observed that electrocutions primarily occurred during cropping seasons and adult elephants mostly died in these incidences. Despite experiencing high HEC, most respondents had a positive attitude toward elephants. However, they felt differently about the forest officials. Key factors driving their attitudes include cultural, emotional, and economic associations with elephants, HEC-related costs, and perceptions of HEC management. Community participatory approaches and financial and technical support are recommended for local people in HEC management.