ELEPHANT RESERVES IN INDIA

Basic Details

• The Indian elephant is one of three extant recognised subspecies of the Asian elephant and native to mainland Asia.
• Asian Elephant is distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west, Nepal in the north, Sumatra in the south, and to Borneo in the east.
• The Asian elephant is the largest living land animal in Asia.
• Since 1986, the Asian elephant has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, as the population has declined by at least 50 percent over the last three elephant generations, which is about 60–75 years.
• It is primarily threatened by loss of habitat, habitat degradation, fragmentation and poaching.
  • African elephants are listed as “vulnerable” and Asian elephants as “endangered” in IUCN Red List of threatened species.
  • The South Indian states of Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are home to nearly 44% of the elephants.
  • Karnataka has the highest number of elephants: 6049
  • The elephant has been accorded the highest possible protection under the Indian wildlife law through its listing under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
  • Project Elephant (PE) was launched by the Government of India in the year 1992 as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme with following objectives:
• To protect elephants, their habitat and corridors.
• To address issues of man-animal conflict.
• Welfare of captive elephants
• Elephant census, is conducted once in 5 years under the aegis of Project elephant. Methods employed: direct counting and dung decay formula.
  • Campaign Haathi Mere Saathi came into existence by the Ministry of Environment and Forests in partnership with Wildlife Trust of India.
  • The aim of this campaign is to increase public awareness and develop friendships between elephants and the local population. It is to conserve and protect elephants.
  • The Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) programme is an international collaboration that measures the levels, trends and causes of elephant mortality, thereby providing an information base to support international decision-making related to conservation of elephants in Asia and Africa.
  • The MIKE Programme was established by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) by Resolution 10.10 adopted at the tenth Conference of the Parties in 1997.
  • There are currently 28 sites participating in the MIKE programme in Asia, distributed across 13 countries: India has 10 sites.