BENGALURU: An elephant census in the border areas of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh will be held from May 23 to 25. While the elephant census is usually held for an entire forest patch once every five years, this time it will be held only in the border areas of the southern states.
“The exercise aims to understand the area, the conflict and chalk out better policies for better coordination and future planning. This is the first time such an exercise is being carried out. It is the outcome of the inter-state coordination committee meeting held in March 2024 in Bandipur Tiger Reserve,” said a senior Karnataka Forest Department official.
The inter-state meeting was held after a radio-collared tuskless male (makhana) killed a man in Wayanad, Kerala. The makhana was radio-collared by Karnataka forest officials after it was captured in Hassan. In the meeting, an Interstate Coordination Committee Charter 2024 was prepared to foster collaboration for human-animal conflict mitigation. The charter was signed by chief wildlife wardens and heads of forest departments of Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu on March 10, 2024. The charter listed five sections for implementation, one of them included population estimation exercises.
Earlier in 2022–23, Karnataka had taken the lead for southern states elephant estimation reports, which showed that Karnataka topped the charts, housing 6,395 elephants. The report, Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus) Population Size and Structure Estimates for Karnataka-Interim Report, August 2023, also quoted that there has been an increase in the population by 346 since 2017.
“This census exercise will be limited to only the bordering areas to identify conflict areas and chalk out better solutions. On the first day (May 23), the block count will be done, the transect method will be done on May 24, and the waterhole count will be done on May 25. Radio-collared elephants will also be tracked. Only the wild ones will be tracked and assessed, not those in captivity. The all-India elephant assessment will be done later on a large scale,” the official added.In Karnataka, the exercise will be done in Kolar, Bannerghatta National Park, Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary, MM Hills (all bordering Tamil Nadu), Bandipur Tiger Reserve (bordering Tamil Nadu and Kerala), Nagarahole Tiger Reserve (bordering Kerala), and all three divisions of Kodagu. The other forest divisions of the state are not included in this exercise.