Soaring mercury levels are forcing elephants to move to western Kerala in search of food and water. With severe drought gripping Karnataka, officials say that more pachyderms are moving to Kerala this year compared to previous years.
The failure of monsoon last year has rendered most of the waterholes inside the forests empty. Besides, flowering of bamboo plantation in Bandipur and Nagarhole forests has created artificial scarcity of foliage. As a result, there has been an exodus of elephants to Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
Chief Conservator of Forests (Project Elephant) Ajay Mishra confirmed to Express about the large-scale movement of elephants to Kodagu, Kudremukh, Mangalore in Karnataka, Waynad in Kerala and Madhumalai in Tamil Nadu. This unusual movement of jumbos is mainly because of scarcity of water and foliage in Karnataka forests, he said, adding that Kerala has a thick vegetation which attracts the jumbos.
“Our counterparts in Kerala too have confirmed the arrival of elephants in huge numbers from the Karnataka side this year compared to previous years,” he said.
Forest guards and watchers on patrol have informed their higher-ups about the spurt in the movement of jumbos towards Waynad and Madhumalai forests. Big herds with more number of females and calves were spotted, he said.
The old ones stayed back because of their inability to trek long distances, he said.
Tigers from Nagarhole and Bandipur forests were also heading towards Waynad looking for prey. They were spotted by forest officials in Kerala. However, Mishra said, they will come back once the monsoon begins.
It is common for pachyderms to move from one forest to another in search of food and water, but this time, it is because of the drought in Karnataka. Mishra said there were also reports of untamed elephants straying into villages in Gundlupet and H D Kote near Mysore. The officials concerned have been instructed to alert villagers whenever they get information regarding the movement of elephants near human settlements, he said.