Asiatic Elephant

Why is in news? Tamil Nadu Forest Department introduces elephant death audit framework

A first-of-its-kind initiative in the country has introduced, an elephant death audit framework to establish a more detailed and transparent process for recording and monitoring deaths.

According to the last count in 2017, there were 29,964 elephants in India. Which is a slight increase from 2012’s mean of 29,576 elephants.

There are three subspecies of Asian elephant which are the Indian, Sumatran and Sri Lankan.

The Indian subspecies has the widest range and accounts for the majority of the remaining elephants on the continent.

Protection Status:

IUCN Red List: Endangered.

Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule I.

CITES: Appendix I

Concerns: Escalation of poaching, Habitat loss, Human-elephant conflict, Mistreatment in captivity, Abuse due to elephant tourism, Rampant mining, Corridor destruction.

Project Elephant:

It is a centrally sponsored scheme and was launched in February 1992 for the protection of elephants, their habitats and corridors.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change provides financial and technical support to major elephant range states in the country through the project.

Even mahouts (people who work with, ride and tend an elephant) and their families play an important part in the welfare of elephants.

Recently, the Supreme Court (SC) upheld the 2011 order of the Madras High Court (HC) on the Nilgiris elephant corridor, affirming the right of passage of the animals and the closure of resorts in the area.

African Elephants:

There are two subspecies of African elephants, the Savanna (or bush) elephant and the Forest elephant.

Earlier in July 2020, Botswana (Africa) witnessed the death of hundreds of elephants.

Protection Status:

IUCN Red List Status: African Savanna Elephant: Endangered, African Forest Elephant: Critically Endangered

CITES: Appendix II

World Elephant Day (August 12) was launched in 2012 to bring attention to the urgent plight of Asian and African elephants.