15% rise in elephant count

DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand has recorded a 15 per cent increase in the population of elephants. The 2015 census has put the population of elephants in Uttarakhand at 1,797 while according to the 2012 census the count was 1,559. This is a 15 per cent increase in the elephant population. The Corbett Tiger Reserve, encompassing an area of 1,288 sq km, has a staggering population of 1,035 elephants.

Jotirmay Thapliyal

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 22

Uttarakhand has recorded a 15 per cent increase in the population of elephants. The 2015 census has put the population of elephants in Uttarakhand at 1,797 while according to the 2012 census the count was 1,559. This is a 15 per cent increase in the elephant population.

The Corbett Tiger Reserve, encompassing an area of 1,288 sq km, has a staggering population of 1,035 elephants. The Dhikala range in the Corbett reserve has reco-rded the presence of 242 elephants while 193 elephants are present in the Sarpduli range of the reserve.

The Rajaji National Park has recorded 309 elephants while there are 193 elephants in the Lansdowne division.

The Shiwalik circle, including Dehradun, Kalsi, Haridwar and Lansdowne forest divisions, has recorded 248 elephants. The western circle, which includes Terai east, Terai central, Terai west, Ramnagar and Haldwani forest divisions, has recorded the presence of 197 elephants, while the north circle, including the Champawat forest division, has recorded the presence of eight elephants.

Forest Minister Dinesh Aggarwal, while releasing the 2015 elephant census report, expressed happiness at the increase in the number of elephants in the state.

He said the rising population of elephants amply showed that the wildlife was thriving in the region. The census done on June 4 and 5 covered 11 forest divis-ions, covering an area of 6,643.5 square kilometer.

He said, wherever possible, pictures of elephants had been taken during the count.

Aggarwal said the World Wide Fund (WWF-India) and the Corbett Foundation, along with officials of the state Forest Department, played an important role during the census.

He, however, admitted that with the rise in the population of both elephants and tigers in the forests of the state, the man-animal conflicts were also likely to rise. However, the forest authorities were trained to handle the challenge, he assured.

Significantly, in various censuses the population of elephants was 1,364 (2007), 1,510 (2005), 1,582 (2003) and 1,507 (2001).