Over 1,100 jumbos reside in forests of Kodagu dist

MADIKERI: The recent census of elephants in Kodagu forests has indicated that there are 1,103 jumbos in the jungles. The census was taken up for three days last month. The number of elephants has increased in Kodagu though the region is in the middle of human-wildlife conflict.

Conservator of forests (Kodagu circle) BNN Murthy and DCF (Madikeri division) AT Poovaiah said that the census was taken up after a gap of six years. The elephant census, which was conducted in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, was conducted in 23 ranges of four divisions in the district namely Madikeri, Virajpet, Madikeri wildlife division, and Nagarahole Tiger Reserve. About 800 personnel were involved in the census.

The elephant census was conducted in three phases. On the first day, the number of elephants was directly recorded through a block count. On the second day, indirect enumeration was done and on the third day, enumeration was done using the lake and dams by observing the number of elephants coming to drink water.

For enumeration operations, the enumerators roamed forest areas on foot and recorded the marks of elephants seen in the forest as per the prescribed document. The number of male, female and baby elephants in a herd of elephants was determined, officials noted.

There were 200 teams of three people each. Arms were provided to each team as a precautionary measure, the officials stated. The forest officials said that there are a large number of elephants dwelling in the plantations also, and if this number is detected, the number of elephants will increase substantially.