BENGALURU: As Karnataka with a sizable population of more than 6,000 elephants celebrates the World Elephant Day on August 12, a nation-wide campaign to save elephant corridors - Gaj Yatra is being launched in the state. The focus will be on the importance of the corridors and role of elephants in the ecosystem. The 10-15-day campaign will cover Bannerghatta, Kollegal, Chamrajnagar, Bandipur and towns and villages in and around the elephant corridors. With vanishing habitat and elephant corridors, the state has witnessed many cases of human-elephant conflict.
Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) which has started the awareness campaign, has been working for the past decade for the ‘Right of Passage - National Elephant Corridors Project’. Gaj Yatra is a 15-month awareness campaign.WTI’s brand ambassador Dia Mirza says, “For their security and well-being, WTI has come up with the Gaj Yatra campaign to create awareness about elephant corridors to encourage free movement in their habitat.”
Ram Kumar, Head, Elephant Corridor Securement, South India, WTI said, “Since we started our project in Karnataka, we have secured an elephant corridor in Chamrajnagara. The corridor connects Edayarhalli Reserve Forest of Malai Madeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary with Doddasampige Reserve Forest of Bilgiri Rangaswamy Temple (BRT) Tiger Reserve. We have also initiated a project in ‘Chamarajanagar - Talamalai at Mudahalli’ corridor. This corridor connects Punjur Range of BRT with Thalavadi Range of Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve and is located at the inter-state boundary of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.”
As far as Kodagu HEC issues are concerned, WTI can involve and help minimize conflict in southern part of this district by securing newly identified elephant corridor named “Begur - Brahmagiri” in the near future.