The Hindu : National : It’s official: elephant rules the roost in Uttar Pradesh

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Sunday, Nov 04, 2007
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It’s official: elephant rules the roost in Uttar Pradesh

Atiq Khan

A jumbo reserve under ‘Project Elephant’ is to be set up soon in the State

U.P. is home to a migratory elephant population which shifts to Uttarakhand
Incidentally, the elephant is the election symbol of the ruling BSP in the State

LUCKNOW: After Tiger Reserve, an Elephant Reserve under Project Elephant is to be set up soon in Uttar Pradesh The proposal, aimed at protecting the elephants in the State, is on the threshold of being implemented following a meeting between the Director of Project Elephant, A.N. Prasad, and senior forest officials here over the weekend.

Incidentally, the elephant is the election symbol of the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party in the State.

A 744 square kilometres area in Saharanpur and Bijnore districts of western UP is to be notified as Elephant Reserve area in the State. The reserve will incorporate four forest areas of the Social Forestry Division in Bijnore district, a substantial part of the Najibabad forest range in Bijnore, Amangarh range also in Bijnore, and part of the Shivalik forest range in Saharanpur district.

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) and Chief Wildlife Warden D.N. Sinha Suman told The Hindu that two proposals for notifying the area had been sent to the Union Government. One related to reserving a 744 sq km area and the other to notify a 497 sq km area in Bijnore and Saharanpur districts.

In the proposed Elephant Reserve, the focus would be on protecting the habitat of the animal, keeping a close watch on them, ensuring their mobility and damage control related to man-animal conflict.

Following the creation of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh was home to a migratory elephant population which passes through the “Elephant Corridor” in Bijnore and Saharanpur districts. The corridor connects the Rajaji National Park in Dehra Dun district with the Jim Corbett National Park in Nainital district, both of which are now situated in Uttarakhand.

Even though the population of the tuskers is migratory in nature, UP has witnessed an upswing in their numbers with several of them preferring to stay on in the forests of Shivalik and Najibabad ranges. The need to declare an elephant reserve is attributed to the fairly large elephant population in UP.

According to the biennial census figures available with the State Forest Department, the number of tuskers in the Bijnore forest division in 2005 was 16. In 2007 the figure had gone up to 62. The Najibabad range reported 24 elephants in 2005. In 2007, their numbers have jumped up to 254. Explains Mr. Suman: “The quantum jump in the population of elephants in Najibabad was attributed to drying up of the main water source in Corbett National Park during the summers whereas the water source in Najibabad was maintained.”

The Shivalik forest range reported 29 tuskers in 2007. The figures for 2005 were not available.

But the elephants are not confined to the forests in the two western UP districts. The Dudhwa National Park in Lakhimpur Kheri district which is the main Tiger Reserve area in the State reported 28 elephants this year and another Tiger Reserve area, the Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, reported seven tuskers in 2007. “The Dudhwa elephants migrated from Nepal and neighbouring Pilibhit district,” says the Chief Wildlife Warden.

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