The Supreme Court has ordered the TN (State of Tamil Nadu’s) government to track  down on elephant corridor encroachment.

There are 400 resorts that are violating the corridor territory and elephant deaths in the state have gone up.  One report in The Times of India says elephant deaths in the state doubled from 61 in 2015-2016 to 125 over the past year.

There’s been a long battle between conservationists and resrots owners in Tamil Nadu at the confluence of the Western and Eastern Ghats.

Back in 2011, the Madras High Court ordered the creation of an elephant corridor.  Resort owners were to hand over or leave their lands falling within the corridor area.

It also mandated that no new development activity was to occur in the area.  Private landowners quickly applied for and got a stay on the order a few months later.

During the north east monsoons, the elephants move from Bandipur in Karnataka to Kerala and Tamil Nadu.  In the south west monsoons, they do the opposite journey.

Lawyer and conservationist Elephant G Rajendran, said that the elephants’ abode is the forest where it has the food it needs.  They move along their traditional path.  This used to be rich forestry cover but private resorts have chosen to operate there, so the elephants are losing their path

Wildlife corridors are vital to wildlife because they enable the animals to get from one essential piece of habitat to another so it is really important they are connected. 

Source:  The News Minute