Forest dept releases draft elephant corridor plan for Tamil Nadu

CHENNAI: The state forest department has released a draft elephant corridor plan for Tamil Nadu and released it online.

Public have been asked to send comments or suggestions pertaining to the draft plan.

"Tamil Nadu has rich forest areas in Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats. It supports a good population of elephants. In the recent elephant census conducted in 2023, it was estimated that 2961 no elephants are found in Tamil Nadu, " a forest department release said.

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. As a result, Human-Elephant Conflict incidences have increased in the last decade, the release added.

"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. Accordingly, Tamil Nadu Forest Department has drafted an elephant corridor plan for Tamil Nadu, " the release said.

The plan has been uploaded in the Forest Department web portal for suggestions from the public. Suggestions can be sent through elephantcorridortnfd@gmail.com.

The plan is available in https://forests.tn.gov.in/tn-forest-dept-publications