State of Assam in India has launched a mobile phone app aimed at reducing
deaths caused by wild elephants.
The Haati app will warn people of approaching herds of elephants to allow them
to get out of the way.
Assam has one of the biggest elephant populations in India and a high number of
elephant and human deaths caused by their interactions, while, conservationists
say elephants are becoming more aggressive in Assam because their habitats
are shrinking, and even their traditional natural corridors are being encroached
upon.
The app launched in Assam has been developed by Aaranyak, a biodiversity
organisation in north-east India, and it also contains a form enabling victims and
their relatives to seek compensation from the local government in cases of injury
or death as a result of an attack by the animals.
The group estimates that half-a-million families in India are affected by crop-
raiding elephants each year.
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