Karnataka’s elephants remain much in demand, primarily because of a burgeoning population coupled with camps set amidst lush natural forests.
The State has 141 captive elephants in its camps, which exceeds the current capacity. At least 25 of them had been captured from Alur in Hassan, while captured elephants from densely-populated areas have added to the numbers. At Dubare, for instance, a forest official said there were 30 elephants, nearly double the “ideal” population of 15. With forest officials following a policy to not sell elephants, either to private institutions, temples or individuals, ‘gifting’ the pachyderms is one way of dealing with the “surplus”. Officials said so far, Madhya Pradesh has asked for six elephants, while requests from Chhattisgarh and additional elephants to Uttarakhand are in the pipeline.
