Pachyderm on Peril

Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus ) are threatened megaherbivore. Today this large majestic pachyderm now struggles for its survival for various reasons. Due to its threatened status as  IUCN red list included as Endangered and CITES put its name Appendix I. This is also schedule-I animal as per Wildlife Protection Act 1972.

Asian Elephant is the second largest terrestrial mammal other than the African counterpart. It is a wide-ranging animal and needs large areas with optimum conditions. Since past numerous elephant stories entangled with human life. According to mythological thought, the elephant took birth from celestial waters and thus are closely associated with rains. The requirement of food and water for elephants is very high and therefore their population can only be supported optimal condition of the forest. The status of the elephant can be the best indicator of the better forest.

The Asian elephants were believed to be widely distributed from Tigris-Euphrates in West Asia eastward through Persia into the Indian Sub-continent., South and Southeast Asia and some Asian islands -Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Malaysia. The global population of Asian elephants is estimated at around 50000 and where 60% of elephants found in India as per the 2012 census. According to ancient and medieval literature indicated that the elephant population was distributed almost all across the nation. However, due to the increasing human population, rapid and deliberate development, habitat shrinkage pushed the elephant population certain pockets areas of the country. Presently India's wild elephant population confined to South India, North East including North West Bengal, Central Indian states like Odisha, South West Bengal, Jharkhand, Northwest India in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

For conservation and better management of elephant population, Project Elephant (PE) was launched by the government of India in the year 1992 as a centrally Sponsored Scheme with the following objectives:

• To protect elephants, their habitat and corridor
• To address issues of man-elephant conflict
• The welfare of the captive elephant

To identify areas for the priority action for the conservation of elephants, till now 28 Elephants Reserve(ERs) extending over 61830.08 square kilometers have been formally notified by the various State Governments.

Elephant Census Figures 2007-2012 (Source Government Records)

Sl No	States	Elephant Population Census Figures
		2007	2012
1	Arunachal Pradesh	1690	890
2	Assam	5281	5620
3	Meghalaya	1811	1811
4	Nagaland	152	212
5	Tripura	59	59
6	West Bengal	325-350	647
7	Jharkhand	624	688
8	Odisha	1862	1930
9	Chhattisgarh	122	247
10	Uttarakhand	1346	1346
11	Uttar Pradesh	380	291
12	Tamil Nadu	3867	4015
13	Karnataka	4035	5648-6488
14	Kerala	6068	5942-6422
15	Andhra Pradesh	28	41
16	Maharastra	7	4

• 
  Meghalaya, Uttarakhand has not conducted census during 2012 so same figures of 2007 have been mentioned 

Concerned by the plight of elephants in our country, the government of India set up an Elephant task force that submitted a comprehensive report titled 'Gajah' to steer the conservation efforts to save this majestic pachyderm.

Following are the Elephant Reserves of India:

Sl No	Elephant Range	Sl No ER	Name Elephant Reserve (ER)	Date of Notification	State	Total Area(Sq Km)
1	Eastern India( South West Bengal-Jharkhand-Odisha)	1	Mayurjharna ER	24.10.2002	W. Bengal	414
		2	Singhbhum ER	26.09.2001	Jharkhand	4530
		3	Mayurbhanj ER	29.09.2001	Odisha	3214
		4	Mahanadi ER	20.07.2002	Odisha	1038
		5	Sambalpur ER	27.03.2002	Odisha	427
		6	Badalkhol-Tamorpingla ER	15.09.2011	Chhattisgarh	1048.3
2	North Bank of the River  Brahmaputra (Arunachal and Assam)	7	Kameng ER	19.06.2002	Arunachal	1892
		8	Sonitpur ER	06.03.2003	Assam	1420
3	South bank of the River Brahmaputra(Assam-Arunachal)	9	Dihing-Patkai ER	17.04.2003	Assam	937
		10	South Arunachal ER	29.02.2008	Arunachal	1957.5
4	Kaziranga(Assam- Nagaland)	11	Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong ER	17.04.2003	Assam	3270
		12	Dhansiri-Lungding ER	19.04.2003	Assam	2740
		13	Intanki ER	28.02.2005	Nagaland	202
5	Eastern Dooars(Assa-West Bengal)	14	Chirang-Ripu ER	07.03.2003	Assam	2600
		15	Eastern Dooars ER	28.08.2002	west Bengal	978
6	East Himalayas (Meghalaya	16	Garo Hills ER	31.10.2001	Meghalaya	3500
7	Nilgiri-Eastern Ghat(Karnataka-Kerala-Tamilnadu- Andhra)	17	Mysore ER	25.11.2002	Karnataka	6724
		18	Wayanad ER	02.04.2002	Kerala	1200
		19	Nilgiri ER	19.09,2003	Tamil Naduna	4663
		20	Rayala ER	09.12.2003	Andhra	766
8	South Nilgiri (Kerala-Tamilnadu)	21	Nilambur ER	02.04.2002	Kerala	1419
		22	Coimbatore ER	19.09.2003	Tamil Nadu	566
9	Western Ghat(Tamil Nadu-Kerala)	23	Anamalai ER	19.09.2003	Tamil Nadu	1457
		24	Anamudi ER	02.04.2002	Kerala	3728
10	Periyar(Kerala-Tamilnadu)	25	Periyar ER	02.04.2002	Kerala	3742
		26	Srivilliputtur ER	19.09.2003	Tamil Nadu	1249
11	Northern India(Uttaranchal-UP)	27	Shivalik	28.10.2002	Uttaranchal	5405
		28	Uttar Pradesh ER	09.09.2009	Uttar Pradesh	744
					Total Area	61830.8

Present all elephant habitats are adjoined with human habitations as such often conflict happened when elephant migrating for foraging for food and shelter (WWF). Human-wildlife Conflict situation is even grim in the current year also. Already several people and elephant died due to conflict. This year more than 50 wild elephants and an equal number (even more) humans died due to human-elephant conflict. Current year multi-million dollar property, the agricultural crop also damaged in Assam.

There are numerous causes of Human-Elephant Conflict across India. Some areas even lost both life and property every alternate day due to human-elephant conflict. In Assam Udalguri, Golaghat, Sonitpur, Goalpara are major human-elephant conflict-prone areas. From a reliable source Udalguri district has lost more than 150 people and almost equal numbers of wild elephants due to conflict. The last one-decade wild elephant has damaged more than 9000 houses in the same district. Thus seriousness of problem may visualize from these conflict figures. 

To manage this conflict government and many non-governmental organizations have initiated several mitigative measures. But many of these initiatives are in the experimental stage and need much research and development to actually control the situation. Elephant behavior, population pattern, seasonal migration pattern, food habit are some of the research areas where we may get many answers to manage this situation. For elephant research insufficient fund is another major shortfall. It is high time to think to secure this majestic animal wild in their habitat. 

All Asian Elephant range countries under the banner of SSC/IUCN Asian Elephant Specialist Group must seat together to work out holistic planning for secure future of this Heritage Animal of  India. 

Finally, we need a movement to create Elephant Politics to Save Elephant.