At 2,961, number of elephants in the wild way below '12 tally

STALIN RELEASES SYNCHRONISED ELEPHANT POPULATION ESTIMATION REPORT; NILGIRIS RESERVE HAS HIGHEST JUMBO DENSITY AS PER THE DATA

- SV KRISHNA CHAITANYA

CHIEF Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday released the latest synchronised elephant population estimation report, according to which, there are 2,961 wild elephants in 26 forest divisions in the state, an increase of 200 elephants compared to the figures of the previous census held in 2017. However, the 2012 census accounted a much higher population of 4,015 elephants, paving way for doubts whether the population is on the decline.

The nation-wide elephant population estimation exercise is carried out every five years by the forest departments of elephant-range states. Due Covid-19 pandemic, the exercise was not initiated by the Project Elephant Directorate of the Union environment ministry. So, the Tamil Nadu forest department in association with Kerala and Karnataka conducted synchronised exercise from May 17 to 19 this year.