There are more than 2000 elephants in the state. The census exercise will be carried out in the 40 identified elephant habitats including three elephant reserves- Simlipal, Mahanadi (Satkosia) and Sambalpur. Different teams would be formed and would be deployed in 5-10 square kilometer area. They would be monitoring the pachyderms from raised platforms and there would be also foot patrolling between 8 am and 1 pm, from May 8 to 12.
A state -wide elephant census is going to be conducted for four days from May 8 to 12. The census is being carried out in every two years to count the number of pachyderms in the state.
Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (wildlife) Siddhant Das said, “We will go by two methods- direct sighting method and dong decay method”.
“While direct sighting method will be adopted primarily, we will also employ dung decay method to confirm the findings of the census”, said Das adding that the second method would be applied for the first time in the state.
There are more than 2000 elephants in the state. The census exercise will be carried out in the 40 identified elephant habitats. The state has three elephant reserves- Simlipal, Mahanadi (Satkosia) and Sambalpur.
Different teams would be formed and would be deployed in 5-10 square kilometer area . They would be monitoring the pachyderms from raised platforms and there would be also foot patrolling between 8 am and 1 pm.
Das said the census would be conducted all over the state on these four days. “ This will be the right time for conduct of the headcount”, he said.
Wildlife department officials said training programmes for the enumerators had already been held. A state level training programme had been held in March second week at Bhubaneswar for the entire eastern region. An acclaimed elephant expert Dr R Sukumar gave the tips to the officials.A circle level programme was organized at Puri yesterday.
There are while about more than 2000 elephants in the state , the census exercise would be made on the 40 identified elephant habitats divisions out of total 51 divisions of the state .
While in Simlipal reserve forest, there were about 439 elephants, in the core area their number was 347 . Elephants not in Similipal but also elsewhere having been facing a threat. They are being targeted by poachers and also by villagers who use live wires to kill them. It is the worst way of fighting with the animal which though huge is one of the gentlest.
In the recent times there has been some effort to analyse the reasons for man-elephant conflict with case studies from Similaipal and Chandaka, the two places where these animals are found in the large numbers. There are also other sanctuaries where one can see these pachyderms but Similipal is considered to be their real home while Chandaka also has facilities for training them. One hopes officials quickly find a way to stop elephant poaching. May-01-15-2017
