With escalating man-elephant conflicts and more than 20 elephant deaths from in and around Simlipal Tiger Reserve (STR) in Odisha, nearly 100 villages have been involved in a campaign “Haathi Mere Saathi” aimed at befriending the national heritage animal with common man. Basically, an initiative of the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF), the campaign has been taken up in the tiger reserve along with the forest divisions of Karanjia, Baripada and Rairanpur which are amongst the worst-hit in man-elephant conflicts. The programme is being undertaken by the local forest department in association with Wildlife Society of Odisha (WSO). “These areas are rich elephant habitats — they are being crossed by elephants from Dalma Reserve in Jharkhand,” says Sanjukta Basa, honorary wildlife warden of STR. Expressing concern she pointed out that sometimes these elephants stay for about two-three months in these forest patches bordered by the villages. Further, upcoming developmental projects have hit the traditional elephant corridors, throwing their passage haywire. Unfortunately growing hostility amongst the villagers towards the national heritage animal has prompted them to take up the campaign in the local communities. The elephants that often pass through the villages marauding cropland or crumbling up houses or even killing local villagers have earned their wrath. The commonest ploy is to kill/poach them through poisoning or shooting, said Bhanumitra Acharya, who is instrumental in forming task force groups in the respective villages. The presiding slogan of the campaign reads ‘Save forests, save elephants, and let humans be safe’. “The elephant is peaceful by nature, but the villagers in their lack of awareness and knowledge of the dos and don’ts related to jumbo behavior end up getting caught in jumbo ire. The modus operandi for the same includes staging plays written and enacted by the local villagers themselves, making wall paintings with the messages inscribed besides village level meetings. Biswajit Mohanty, secretary of WSO, says, “Man and elephant have shared a traditional rapport, our purpose is to revive this mutual peaceful existence. The cutting of forests must be stopped both for the safety of humans and elephants.