Joe McConnell
The Indian state of Assam has launched a mobile app aimed at reducing deaths caused by wild elephants.
The Haati app will alert people to approaching elephant herds, allowing them to move on.
Assam is home to one of the largest elephant populations in India and a high number of elephant and human deaths are caused by their interactions.
Conservationists say elephants are becoming more aggressive in Assam because their habitats are shrinking and even their traditional wildlife corridors are being encroached upon.
Up to 1,701 people have been killed by elephants in India from 2020 to 2024, according to official data cited by the Hindustan Times in March.
The app launched in Assam was developed by Aaranyak, a biodiversity organization in northeast India.
It also contains a form that allows victims and their families to seek compensation from their local government in the event of injury or death caused by an animal attack.
Aaranyak has also published a manual on solar-powered fences that can keep elephants away.
According to wildlife charity WWF, There are less than 50,000 Asian elephants left in the wildThe group estimates that every year half a million families in India are affected by elephants raiding their crops.
