By Our Special Correspondent
Thiruvananthapuram, July 17 (IVC) The wild elephant population in the State declined to 1793 in 2024 as against 1920 in 2023 , according to the Elephant Population Estimation in Kerala -2024 report released here on July 16, recording a decline of 127 elephants.
The Forest Minister A K Saseendran released the report of the Elephant Population Estimation in Kerala 2024. The Minister said on the occasion that the population estimation was conducted in the forests of Karnataka, Kerala , Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh from May 23 to 25 this year.
The population of elephants has declined from 1920, recorded during a State-level population assessment last year, to 1793, with a density of 0.19 per sq.km. The exercise was part of the decisions adopted by the Interstate Coordination Committee comprising Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu to mitigate rising human-elephant conflicts in the region.
An elephant reserve-level (ER) analysis showed largely stable elephant populations in the P eriyar and wayanad ERs, while the Wayanad and Anamudi ERs recorded significant reductions in population of 29 per cent and 12 per cent respectively. The estimated population in various ERs are : Anamudi – 615 (last year 696) Nilambur 198 (171), Periyar 813 (811) and Wayanad -178 (249).
The stable numbers in Periyar and Nilambur have ben attributed to the undulating topography along with the interstate borders that restricts frequent movement, the report revealed.
The forest officials maintain that the noticeable drop in population in Wayanad has been influenced by the climatic vagaries characterized by extreme dry period followed by late summer rain. While addressing the need for conservation of elephant population, the report stated that the reduction in the elephant habitat quality and extreme weather events such as droughts and floods tend to exacerbate human-elephant conflicts . It also revealed that the reasons for such conflicts could not be generalized, since every forest division has specific problems.
