Elephant census completed in Karnataka forests

Mysore, May 9 (UNI) A three-day elephant census was completed in the five ranges in Karnataka coming under Biligiri Ranganatha Wildlife Sanctuary, Bandipur and Nagarahole National Parks which would help establish the number of elephants living in the wilds in the southern states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

The last census was held in the year 2001 there were 6008 elephants in the wild in Karnataka, 5737 in Kerala and 2971 in Tamil Nadu.

The elephant census began on Monday in all the ranges using three different technical methods on each day of the project. They were the sampling block method, water hole count and line transact or indirect dung method using forest officials and NGOs in all the sanctuary limits.

Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF) Wildlife Division C Raju, told newsmen at Chamarajanagara about 70 km from here today that the project aimed to study the family size and structure and population trends among the pachyderms. About 30 per cent of the forest area was being covered under the block count method.

He said that 43 beats had been identified in the Biligiri Sanctuary, each of which would be covered by a four to five member team of forest department officials and NGO activists.

That date collected would be analysed to arrive at a final figure of the number of elephants in the area. Elephants had been found in large numbers in the moist deciduous forest region in the B R Sanctuary. During the last census 2000 of the 6000 elephants in the state found to be in the B R Sanctuary, he added.

He said that a census of tigers and other wild animals would also be carried out in June or July. The tiger census would also follow three methods namely the pug mark, camera trap and scat analysis methods. A team of officials from Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad would assist in the tiger census.

UNI