Udumula Sudhakar Reddy
Elephant census will begin in the State from May 22 and go on till May 24th. The jumbo census is taken once in five years.
Koundinya wildlife sanctuary in Chittoor district bordering Tamilandu is reported to have
around 25 elephants and in Vizainagaram-Srikakulam forest area bordering Odisha have four
of them.
Chief Wild Life Warden Mr S V Kumar said,”We are conducting elephant census
simultaneously along with the neighboring states Orissa, Karnataka and Tamilnadu. The
elephants made Koundinya sanctuary as their resident area and earlier they were only
migrating from neighboring TN and Karnataka,” Koundinya sanctuary spread over 357.6
square kilometers is the only elephant reserve in the State where the elephants have
returned after 200 years.
However the Vizainagaram-Srikakulam forest cover which is the habitat of elephants is yet
to be declared as sanctuary.
‘We have been paying compensation to the farmers at the rate of Rs 6000 per acre for
damage by elephants. So there is no resistance from locals. Elephants keep moving and it
should be coordinated effort where the census should be taken up at the same time,” said
Mr S V Kumar. In 2007 elephant census revealed that over all in the country there are
around 4,000-6,000 jumbos.
Koundinya wildlife sanctuary in Chittoor district bordering Tamilandu is reported to have
around 25 elephants and in Vizainagaram-Srikakulam forest area bordering Odisha have four
of them.
Chief Wild Life Warden Mr S V Kumar said,”We are conducting elephant census
simultaneously along with the neighboring states Orissa, Karnataka and Tamilnadu. The
elephants made Koundinya sanctuary as their resident area and earlier they were only
migrating from neighboring TN and Karnataka,” Koundinya sanctuary spread over 357.6
square kilometers is the only elephant reserve in the State where the elephants have
returned after 200 years.
However the Vizainagaram-Srikakulam forest cover which is the habitat of elephants is yet
to be declared as sanctuary.
‘We have been paying compensation to the farmers at the rate of Rs 6000 per acre for
damage by elephants. So there is no resistance from locals. Elephants keep moving and it
should be coordinated effort where the census should be taken up at the same time,” said
Mr S V Kumar. In 2007 elephant census revealed that over all in the country there are
around 4,000-6,000 jumbos.
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