‘Elephant count in TN rises by 800 in 5 years, 130 may die this year'

EXPERTS from the Forest College and Research Institute in Mettupalayam have told a committee constituted to probe the reasons for the death of wild elephants, especially young ones, over the past year in Tamil Nadu that 130 elephants may die in Tamil Nadu this year and their population may have gone up by 800 compared to the last census in 2017.

- S SENTHIL KUMAR

According to sources in the Department of Wildlife Biology in the Government Arts College, Udhagamandalam, the primary reasons for the death of wild elephant calves since 1991 in the State may be drought and lack of water in forests during summer. K Bharanidharan, associate professor, Forest College and Research Institute, Mettupalayam, in his study Assessment on present population status of elephants and development of elephant population prediction models for Tamil Nadu, said that 130 elephants may die across Tamil Nadu in 2022 — four more than last year. his model also predicts that the population of wild elephants would increase by 800 and the total count would stand between 3,500 and 3,600 in 2022. During the census in 2017, the total number of elephants in Tamil Nadu was 2,761.