Male elephant radio-collared in Haridwar
EARLIER THIS MONTH, THE STATE GOVERNMENT RECEIVED PERMISSION FROM THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT TO RADIO-COLLAR 10 ELEPHANTS
A 35-year-old male elephant was radio-collared on Thursday for the first time in the state to monitor its movements ahead of the 2021 Mahakumbh in Haridwar, forest officials said.
JS Suhag, chief wildlife warden of Uttarakhand, said an elephant has never been radio-collared before in the state.
“The forest department along with a team from Wildlife Institute of India has successfully radio-collared a male tusker in Dassowal area of Rasiyabud range in Haridwar forest division. We will now monitor the movement of this tusker with the aim of preventing man-animal conflict during the 2021 Maha Kumbh,” said Suhag.
Earlier this month, the state government received permission from the central government to radio-collar 10 elephants and study their movement, who usually stray in human habitations.
Jumbo population has increased in the state and so has man-elephant conflict. In June, according to the elephant census that was conducted earlier this year, the elephant numbers in the state had reached 2026. In 2012, there were 1559 while in 2017 there were 1839 elephants in the state
Neeraj Sharma, divisional forest officer of Haridwar, said in the past three months, 10 elephants have been identified for radio-collaring after continuous monitoring.
“One such elephant was radio collared on Thursday in the presence of senior scientists from WII and veterinarians from the state forest department. The state forest department will now get hourly updates of the movement of the elephant and this will not only help us prevent man-elephant conflict during Maha Kumbh but we will also be able to check if the elephant is moving near agricultural fields and move it from there on time,” said Sharma.
Last September, the Rajaji Tiger Reserve landscape in the state was chosen as a pilot landscape for a project on man-wildlife conflict mitigation.
The forest officials had started their preparations for Maha Kumbh 2021 since last November, when man-animal hotspots were identified and geo-tagged. Response teams at multiple levels were formed and a geo-tagged map was prepared by the Haridwar forest division by collating information on all the conflict incidents over the past two years.