CHENNAI, APR 29   :   Tamil Nadu has a total of 2,961 elephants in the state as per the recent census, even as there has been increase in human-elephant in the last decade due to disturbances in elephant corridor.

A release from the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden here on Monday said Nadu has rich forest area in Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats and supports good population of elephants. In the recent elephant census conducted in 2023, it was estimated that 2,961 elephants are found in Tamil Nadu.

Because of recent development and agriculture interventions, the habitat continuity of Forests for Elephants have been disconnected and it has created disturbances to the elephant corridors, which elephants were using for ages, it said.

As a result, Human-Elephant Conflict incidences have increased in the last decade. It was proposed to prepare an Elephant corridor plan to protect the elephant habitat effectively.

Considering this necessity Tamil Nadu Government has formed a special committee to prepare a corridor plan and accordingly, the Forest Department has drafted an elephant corridor plan and it was uploaded in the Forest Department web portal for offering comments/suggestions from the public, the release said.(UNI)