A two-day elephant census programme has been started in Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala on Saturday by recording the age and sex of jumbos.
While the wildlife department team plans to register the number and category of each elephant in the sanctuary on the first day, the animal count will be taken using 'line transect dung count' method on the second day.
The 'dung-count' method would provide more concrete information about the exact number of jumbos in the Wayanad sanctuary in Kerala state in south India which is a rich abode of not only native elephants but migratory animals
as well from neighbouring southern states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, a top wildlife department official said.
"The sanctuary was closed for tourists today as vehicle movement will disturb jumbo herds. We do not want the animals be disturbed during the time of census," K Radhakrishnalal, Assistant Wildlife Warden, Muthanga said.
For the sake of various census procedures, the
sanctuary would be divided into 20 divisions and each section would be covered by a seven member team comprising wildlife department personnel, students from the College of Forestry and the volunteers of NGOs.
As per the figures of the state wildlife department, there are around 6000 elephants in the forests of Kerala. A total of 961 jumbos are estimated to be in Wayanad sanctuary alone.
Though 335 jumbos were counted through direct spotting in the last census, the forest department sources said after scientific analysis that it would be upto 961.
A lush hub of fodder and water, the Wayanad Sanctuary is usually visited by elephants from nearby sanctuaries and national parks.
Wildlife experts said the presence of migratory elephants is a major hazard in getting the exact number of jumbos here.
While in the 1989 census, the number of elephants spotted in Wayanad was 858, it declined to 343 in 1990. As per the department figures, the elephant count was just 127 in 1993 but rose to 761 in 1996.
The striking difference may be because of the flow of migratory elephants here, wildlife sources said.