THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Timely changes are essential in the management plan of Project Elephant which aims at the conservation of wild elephants, said O P Kaler, retired principal chief conservator of forests on Friday. He was speaking at a workshop here on elephant conservation.
In his address, Kaler called for inclusion of a compensation provision in the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 for wild elephant attacks on humans.
Kerala Forest Research Institute former director P S Easa and P O Nameer, head of department of wildlife science of KAU, spoke on the habitat of conservation centres for domesticated elephants. Former VC of MG University Rajan Gurukkal and chief forest conservator Pramod V Krishnan spoke on the unification of wild elephant conservation methods. Sangita Iyer delivered a talk on care of domesticated elephants.
The workshop passed a resolution calling for a special authority for the conservation of forest areas under Project Elephant and giving importance for elephant corridors in the working and management plans of the Forest Department.The other demands were a ban on setting up road, rail, electric lines and canals cutting across elephant corridors and avoiding the corridors from afforestation initiatives.
Head of Forest Force Anilkumar Bhardwaj, principal chief conservator of forests A K Dharni, retired PCCFs G Harikumar and T P Narayanankutty, former director of Dehradun Wildlife Institute Rijon Singh and wildlife researcher Malik were present.