JORHAT: Even as census officials are in the process of visiting households all over India to take stock each and every citizen in the decennial national headcount, the authorities of Kaziranga National Park authorities on Sunday kickstarted an elephant census in the sanctuary. The park authorities have provided the required training to forest officials to carry out the jumbo census operation, which will continue for one week.
"We have initiated an elephant census operation in the park from today that will continue for one week. During the next seven days, we plan to complete the census operation in all parts of the national park," said Kaziranga director Surajit Dutta.
To ensure an easy and successful census operation, the authorities have divided the park in to 81 parts and a good number of trained forest officials have been deputed in every segment to conduct the operation. The officials have also been directed to use elephants to enter the dense parts of the forest, according to the director.
"The census operators will generally conduct the exercise on foot. But, to visit the dense parts of the forest, they have also been directed to use elephants inside the park," he added.
The Kaziranga national park is the most popular habitat of the Asiatic elephant in the country. As these pachyderms generally take shelter in thick forests, here they are mainly found in the northern part of the park, which is suitable for them. They roam about the areas belonging to all the four ranges Kohara, Bagori, Burapahar and Agoratoli of the park.
"Elephants generally take shelter in the jungle and all the four ranges of the park are covered with dense forests, so they roam about in all the range areas," a senior forest official said. He added that a good number of elephants in the national park also regularly visit the adjacent Karbi hills in search of food.
It is worth mentioning that the reports of the elephant census in the park revealed that the population of jumbos has been increasing over the years. According to the survey of the state forest department, the national park was home to 1,048 elephants in the 2002 census, and the number increased to 1,206 in the 2005 headcount. During the first elephant census conducted in 1972, only 430 elephants were spotted in the park. According to the 2005 survey report, the combined elephant population at Kaziranga and in the adjacent Karbi Anglong hills was 1,940.
