Seeking to take an accurate count of elephant population in the state, Karnataka Wildlife Department is all set to conduct a two-day elephant census in the state forests.
Funded by 'Project Elephant', the census will be done on May 15 and 16, covering all the national parks and sanctuaries in Karnataka state in south India.
Protected reserves including Banerghatta National Park, Nagahole National Park, Bandhipur National Park, BR Hills Wildlife Sanctuary, Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary and Kudremukh National Park will be visited by forest staff and researchers as part of the project, sources said.
According to a top forest official, the state elephant census programme is part of an extensive enumeration being conducted simultaneously in other south Indian states of
Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
"Last jumbo census in the state was conducted in 2007.
According to the then figures, the total number of elephants in the state forests were 5000," said B K Singh, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife).
Forest staff have spotted scores of elephant calves within the herds during their routine visits and so a remarkable increase is expected in total number, he said.
Wildlife experts in the state are also viewing the census with much expectations in the backdrop of increased human-elephant conflicts reported recently and the steady increase in the number of elephants killed through various
means in the past five years.
"Majority of elephants were killed by electrocution," Singh said adding that of the 132 elephants died in 2009-10,34 of them were killed.
Apart from forest staff, a total of 50-100 persons including researchers and other experts would participate in various census activities.
Methods like block count and line transect including direct sighting and dung count would be used for the project, sources said.