An elephant census has begun at Corbett Tiger Reserve in Uttarakhand’s Nainital district and will continue until May 30. The exercise will cover all 72 beats of the reserve, where officials will assess elephant numbers and monitor their activities. More than 150 forest staff members and wildlife experts have been deployed for the operation.
Along with tiger monitoring, elephant censuses are regularly conducted at the reserve. According to park officials, around 850 elephants were recorded during the 2015 census, while the 2020 census reported 1,226 elephants in the reserve, making the ongoing exercise highly significant.
This year, the census is being carried out using scientific methods with support from the Wildlife Institute of India. Separate teams have been assigned to each forest range, including forest personnel and WII researchers. These teams are collecting detailed information on elephant movement, herd sizes, habitat use, and activity patterns.
Dr. Saket Badola, Director of Corbett National Park, said forest staff received specialised training before the census to improve the accuracy of data collection. He added that all collected data will be sent to the WII, which will use it to estimate the elephant population across Uttarakhand.
Officials believe the census will play an important role in wildlife conservation and habitat management for elephants. The increasing elephant population in the reserve is being viewed as a positive sign of successful conservation efforts. Forest officials and wildlife experts are therefore closely monitoring the census results.
According to the previous census, Uttarakhand had more than 3,500 elephants, including 1,226 elephants in Corbett Tiger Reserve.
Forest Department officials expect the elephant population to increase further this time due to better environmental conditions, improved food availability, and safer habitats inside the forests. Nature enthusiasts expect the elephant count in the reserve to be higher than previous years.
Teams stationed across different beats of the tiger reserve are closely monitoring elephant herds and movements while maintaining intensive surveillance throughout the census operation.
