In rural parts of Tamil Nadu, India, farmers say elephants are walking through their fields and destroying them. 

As animals have a harder time finding water and food sources, they will be more inclined to enter human-dense areas — or, in this case, crop-growing areas — for their survival. 

What's happening?

According to The Hindu, a herd of elephants entered crop fields near Thalavadi in Tamil Nadu, uprooting more than 20 coconut trees and eating onion crops. 

Residents said these events have been occurring more frequently as elephants have been camping near villages and along roads. 

Why is this concerning?

Without adequate resources, elephants have to travel long distances to find food and water. 

For example, in 2023, Reuters reported that drought conditions in parts of Zimbabwe caused watering holes to dry up and elephants to travel farther than usual in search of water, leading to dozens of elephants dying in Hwange National Park.

As natural resources become harder to find, elephants and other animals are more likely to pass through or integrate into human-dense areas or farmlands. Not only does that increase the risk of crop damage, but it also puts both people and animals in potentially deadly situations. 

It's not just the potential for attacks that's the issue. Human-wildlife interactions can also lead to animals becoming desensitized to humans, thereby affecting their survival. 

For example, The Hindu reported that elephants in the Sigur plateau had relied on human food since 2007, until coronavirus pandemic-enforced lockdowns in 2020 helped "de-habituate" them. 

Even worse, animals might be euthanized if they cause a human harm, even if they were only acting on instinct or in self-defense.

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What can be done to help farmers and elephants?

In Tamil Nadu, farmers have urged the Forest Department to take stronger steps to keep elephants out of farms and to provide them with compensation for damages, per The Hindu. 

For everyone else, reducing planet-warming pollution can slow the rate of rising global temperatures, which are drying up watering holes and depleting food sources for animals across the planet.

Taking the bus for short, local journeys rather than a gas-guzzling car can minimize your personal polluting impact while saving you money. 

Meanwhile, installing solar panels can slash your energy bill while relying less on grid-provided energy, which is typically generated by burning coal, gas, or oil.

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