On July 17, 2025, Royal Manas National Park, Bhutan’s oldest protected area, posted on its Facebook page: “Wild Friends Aren’t Always Friendly.” The message referred to a midnight incident in which elephants damaged several vehicles parked inside a newly constructed parking area secured by a boundary wall, concertina wire fencing, and a thorn-gated entrance. This event at Manas is not an isolated occurrence. Across Bhutan, such encounters are becoming increasingly frequent, underscoring an urgent need for large-scale intervention. In response, Bhutan is rapidly expanding its chain-link fencing program nationwide to shield farmers and safeguard food systems. While this infrastructure offers immediate relief and supports agricultural recovery, it also fragments vital wildlife corridors, raising profound ecological and ethical concerns. The urgency to act is clear, yet the long-term consequences challenge Bhutan’s deep-rooted commitment to coexistence with nature. A chain-link fence erected to exclude wildlife from crops in Tingtibe, Zhemgang district of Bhutan. Image by Kesang Wangchuk / Ugyen Wangchuck Institute for Forestry Research and Training. This urgency stems from a worsening rural crisis. Human-wildlife conflict is not new to Bhutan, but has now reached a critical tipping point. Crop raids by elephants, wild pigs, monkeys and porcupines increasingly force farmers to abandon their fields. Farmland lies fallow not because farmers have given up, but because they can no longer afford to lose another harvest. As agriculture becomes less viable, rural depopulation intensifies, leading to reduced farm labor and an increase in fallow land. These lands are reclaimed by forests, drawing wild…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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