Study on elephant corridor to reduce trouble for humans, protect jumbos

Reassessment comes against backdrop of growing human-wildlife conflict in Tamil Nadu

- SV KRISHNA CHAITANYA @Chennai

TAMIL Nadu has initiated the process of notifying crucial elephant corridors in the state, a first-of-its-kind move to ensure the long-term conservation of its pachyderm population and mitigate human-elephant conflict.

The State Planning Commission is funding a study to revisit ground truth and assess the validity of all the 42 corridors identified by the Tamil Nadu Elephant Corridors Committee.

The effort is expected to refine the list by filtering corridors based on scientific reasoning and ecological necessity.

The move follows an extensive reassessment conducted by the committee, which comprised officials from the Forest Department, scientific experts, and conservation organisations.

Their preliminary findings indicate that while 42 corridors have been mapped, not all may serve as effective linkages for elephant movement and genetic exchange.

Srinivas R Reddy, Head of Forest Force, Tamil Nadu Forest Department, told TNIE, "We need to confirm whether these corridors connect landscapes and facilitate gene flow.