The collaborated elephant census by Bengal and North-Eastern states started off on Monday and is expected to go on for two days. The Bengal government had joined hands with the North-Eastern states to undertake elephant census which was kicked off on Monday. According to a senior official of the state Forest department, apart from Bengal, the elephant census would be held in Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura. It was
learnt that the most interesting feature of this year's census is the involvement of neighbouring states.
There is always a possibility of overestimation or underestimation of elephants if the census is carried out in states separately because elephants are migratory animals. If all the North-Eastern states take part in the census, simultaneously, the count of elephants would be more accurate.
The census in North Bengal will cover an area of around 1,828 sq km from the Mechi River near the Indo-Nepal border up to the Sankosh River in the bordering areas of Assam. According to the last census conducted in 2014, there are 590 elephants in North Bengal.
It was learnt that the census would be carried out in two methods — direct count and indirect count. Senior Forest department officials said direct count means counting of elephants at their sighting in forest and point counting would be carried out from watchtowers in the forest. Indirect counting is done by using dung decay method along the transit route of elephants. According to sources, the counting of elephants in South Bengal will be held along with other bordering states of Odisha and Jharkhand in May. Elephants in South Bengal migrate to Odisha and Jharkhand while those in North Bengal migrate to Assam. According to the last census, there are around 180 elephants in South Bengal.
It may be mentioned that the incidents of human-animal conflict in the state has gone up. According to an estimate, in 2015-16 elephants killed 108 people in the state.
The state government has undertaken various measures to check such incidents of human-animal conflict. The census will be carried out for two days at Garumara, Jaldapara, Neora Valley, Buxa and Mahananda forest ranges. The elephant census will continue till March 29. Around 161 groups have been taking part in the programme which is being carried out over 887 sq km. Around 45 Kunki elephants have been engaged in the programme.
Specific information would be collected on the number of male and female elephants and elephant calfs in the forests and on which corridor they are using.