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Wild Elephant in India: Status, Trends, Threats

New government initiative to give fresh impetus to elephant protection in India

Document created 28 February 2010, last updated 24 September 2010

"The Union environment and forests ministry has agreed to set up a National Elephant Conservation Authority" (Times of India, 10 Sep 2010, link below).

"Indian authorities have now decided to declare the elephant its "national heritage animal" and to afford it the same level of protection as bestowed upon the mighty tiger" (The Independent, 2 Sep 2010, link below).

Wild elephant populations in India are threatened by the degradation of their habitats (fragmentation and encroachment), conflict with neighbouring people leading to many deaths on both sides each year, and poaching (see sources quoted above).

The need for conservation action has been recognized by India's government and, in 1992, Project Elephant was created with "an objective to protect and conserve the population of Wild Asian elephants in India", including "protecting wild elephants, preserving elephant corridors and regulating man-animal conflict...". However, due to "a number of challenges both financial and institutional which limited the scope of its impact", the Governement decided to "give a new impetus to this project". The Task Force on Project Elephant was created, "to provide detailed recommentations to 'upgrade' the Project to bring about a more effective conservation and management regime for the species in India" (all quotes from Task Force on Project Elephant Memorandum, see link below). The headlines above highlight some of the Task Force's recommendations.

India is home to 25,000 to 30,000 wild elephants, making up over 50% of the total remaining population of Asian elephants. They are now restricted to 4 main areas: northeastern India, central India, northwestern India, and southern India (IUCN-Red List, see link below).

Protected habitat includes 26 elephant reserves (for a total area of over 70,000 sq km), as well as elephant corridors (Project Elephant, see link below).

Links to external websites:

[wb1]  Mongabay - 11 Jan 10 - Conservation organization purchases vital wildlife corridor for elephants in India - On Christmas Eve, the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) completed a transaction to purchase an important wild

[wb2]  The Independent (London) - 2 Sep 10 - India's elephants finally given same protection as tigers - The humble hardworking elephant is not an animal that usually likes to complain. But over the years, while higher-profile, more urgently threatened species have been the subject of wid

[wb3]  The Times of India - 10 Sep 10 - Make room for the giants - Despite the fact that India's forests have fragmented and turned into islands in a sea of development, elephants have managed to stride the distances and multiply over the years.

[wb4]  IUCN Red List of Threatened Species - Click to visit section about Asian elephant

[wb5]  Project Elephant (Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India) - Data about elephant reserves and populations in India

[wb6]  Task Force on Project Elephant Memorandum - Click to view

[wb7]  The Times of India - 23 Sep 10 - Seven elephants killed by speeding train - a speeding goods train hit the animals while they were crossing the railway tracks near Binnaguri in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal, forest department sources said.

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