Director of Nagarahole National Park speaks on the occasion of World Elephant Day at Mathigodu Elephant Camp

Hunsur: The Nagarahole National Park is an ideal place for elephant habitat and the elephant corridor inside the Tiger Reserve is the main reason for this, opined Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF) and Director of Nagarahole National Park Project Tiger Mahesh Kumar. 

He was speaking at the World Elephant Day celebrations organised at Mathigodu Elephant Camp on Wednesday. The World Elephant Day falls on Aug. 12 every year and it is an international event dedicated to the conservation and protection of the world’s elephants. 

The Nagarahole National Park is spread across 843 square kilometres and the elephant corridor begins at Mudumalai in Tamil Nadu and covers Sathyamangala, B.R. Hills and Bandipur Tiger Reserve and extends up to Brahmagiri Forests. “Earlier, these elephants used to spread terror among the villages on the fringes of forests. But now, scientific way of preventing them including laying of railway track fencing and other measures have minimised the man-animal conflict,” he said.

Nagarahole National Park is counted among the best place for wild elephants to thrive as availability of food and water is ample. Many ranges inside the forests are plain and not mountainous and this allows free movement of elephants from one place to another, he opined. 

Here, three elephants are present in every two square kilometres and still 156 kilometres of railway fencing has to be erected. 46 kilometres of railway track fencing has already been completed and once the entire fencing is completed, the man-elephant conflict will see a drastic reduction, he opined. 

Of the 50 Tiger Reserves in India, the Nagarahole National Park has the highest density of elephants. “As per the 2017 census, there are over 6,049 elephants in Karnataka and in Nagarahole alone, there are over 1,500 to 2,000 elephants. There is a perfect balance of herbivorous and carnivorous animals in Nagarahole,” he said. 

On the occasion, the elephants at Mathigodu Elephant Camp were decorated with artistic formations on their heads, faces, ears and trunks. 

Mahouts who have taken care of the elephants in a best possible way were felicitated. ACF Satish, RFOs Y. Kiran Kumar and S. Hanumantharaju, Veterinarian Dr. Mujeeb and others were present.