Aug 06 2025 to Aug 06 2025 6:30 p.m.

Where

Bangalore International Centre

7 4th Main Rd, Stage 2, Domlur 560071

Event Description

26 minutes | English with subtitles | 2019

Forests inspire awe, yet fragmentation, monocultures, and urban sprawl disrupt their balance, driving biodiversity loss and human-elephant conflict (HWC). Elephants, as ecosystem engineers, adapt by moving through both wild and cultivated lands, exposing the blurred lines of modern landscapes.

Set in regions like Bannerghatta, Cauvery, and Mysore, where A Rocha India works closely with communities and frontline staff, Driving Elephants documents the fatal consequences faced by free-ranging elephants when they venture into human spaces. Male elephants, in particular, are increasingly pushed to the fringes, navigating traffic, raiding crops at night, and forming risky coalitions in search of survival.

With over 730 humans and 336 elephants dying annually due to HWC, this crisis demands more than tolerance; it calls for empathy, equity, and space for all. The screening of Driving Elephants is an invitation to reflect on coexistence in these shared landscapes and to reimagine a future where people and elephants can thrive together.

The screening will be followed by an audience Q&A session with Avinash Krishnan

Speaker

Avinash Krishnan
Director & CEO, A Rocha India
Avinash Krishnan is a large mammal ecologist with over 17 years of field-based experience working on human-elephant interactions in the Eastern Ghats, southern India. Since 2007, he has led pioneering ecological research and conservation action in the Bannerghatta–Hosur landscape, introducing key innovations such as the park’s first camera trapping initiative and Asia’s first conservation dog unit for elephant conflict mitigation.

As Country Head of a Rocha India, he oversees science-driven conservation and community-based programs. He also advises state governments and national NGOs on elephant corridor protection and policy, including as Senior Consultant to the Wildlife Trust of India’s Right of Passage initiative. He serves on the IUCN SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group, the District Captive Elephant Committee (Karnataka), and the Animal Welfare Board of India. Avinash holds a master’s in wildlife management from the University of Reading and is currently pursuing his PhD on human-elephant interactions in the Eastern Ghats tri-junction.