Gujarat elephants to monitor tiger movement in Corbett
Two elephants from Gujarat will be used for for monitoring tiger movement in Uttarakhand’s Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR) that has the highest tiger density among India’s 50 reserves, with a density of 14 tigers per 100 sq km.
The increased tiger population from 215 in 2014 to over 250 in 2018 has necessitated the need to increase patrolling by elephants, said CTR officials.
The CTR also has the highest tiger population - 231 in the reserve and 266 using the reserve - among all the 50 tiger reserves in the country, according to the report “Status of Tigers Copredators and Prey in India”, released in 2020.
According to CTR officials, both the elephants were brought from Gujarat to Corbett last month and have been found fit in the physical test for patrolling purposes.
Dr Dushyant Sharma, senior veterinarian at CTR, said the park was spread over an area of 1,288 sqkm and has over 250 tigers. “To protect tigers in the park is a big challenge for the CTR administration. This has necessitated the need to increase patrolling by elephants to keep a tab on the tiger movement here,” he said.
Dr Sharma said the CTR has 17 captive elephants which are used in patrolling, especially in the sensitive areas adjacent to Uttar Pradesh. “In April, two elephants were brought here from Gujarat, taking the number of captive elephants in the Park to 19 now. A few days ago, a physical examination of these elephants was done. These elephants have been found fully fit in this test. Now we will use them in patrolling service within next few days,” he said.
The senior veterinarian said these elephants were being trained at the wildlife rescue centre in the Dhela range of the park. “The mahouts of other captive elephants are training these elephants”, he said
Nine elephants including four females were brought from Karnataka to Corbett in 2017. All of them have been housed in Kalagarh zone. One elephant Kanchambha gave birth to a male calf in 2018 after 25 years in the Park.
Corbett Tiger Reserve, which is spread across 1,288 square km, is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the state. The gates of Corbett open on November 15 every year for six months till mid-June. Corbett witnesses a footfall of around 300,000 tourists every year.