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NEW DELHI: The Centre has approved setting up Terai Elephant Reserve (TER) at Dudhwa-Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh. The new Reserve, spread over 3,049 sq km area, will be India’s 33rd Elephant Reserve – a management entity that includes protected areas, forest areas and corridors for conservation of wild elephants.
The TER will be developed in the joint forest areas of Dudhwa and Piliphit tiger reserves, covering conservation of four wild species such as tiger, Asian elephant, swamp deer and one-horned rhinoceros in the entire landscape that also includes Kishanpur and Katarniaghat wildlife sanctuaries.
Announcing the Centre’s approval of the TER, environment minister Bhupender Yadav said the move would help in conserving trans-boundary migratory elephant populations. “The government remains steadfastly on the path of protecting all wildlife,” he said.
The reserve through implementing human-elephant conflict mitigation strategies will protect villagers living in the Indo-Nepal border areas of Uttar Pradesh. It will also be beneficial for the two tiger reserves in terms of managing grassland and corridor maintenance.
The TER is the third new elephant reserve that got approval in the past over three months under Project Elephant. The other two were Lemru in Chhattisgarh and Agasthymalai in Tamil Nadu. The Project Elephant is a centrally sponsored scheme which supports elephant conservation in the country.
Elephant has been recognized as a National Heritage Animal of India and the highest degree of protection has been given to it under Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. India has the largest population of Asian elephants with 30,000 wild and about 3,600 captive ones.
All 33 elephant reserves put together cover a total area of nearly 80,000 sq km. Tamil Nadu and Assam have the highest number of elephant reserves with five each in both the states followed by four in Kerala, three in Odisha, two each in Uttar Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Nagaland and West Bengal, and one each in Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Meghalaya and Uttarakhand.
The TER will be developed in the joint forest areas of Dudhwa and Piliphit tiger reserves, covering conservation of four wild species such as tiger, Asian elephant, swamp deer and one-horned rhinoceros in the entire landscape that also includes Kishanpur and Katarniaghat wildlife sanctuaries.
Announcing the Centre’s approval of the TER, environment minister Bhupender Yadav said the move would help in conserving trans-boundary migratory elephant populations. “The government remains steadfastly on the path of protecting all wildlife,” he said.
The reserve through implementing human-elephant conflict mitigation strategies will protect villagers living in the Indo-Nepal border areas of Uttar Pradesh. It will also be beneficial for the two tiger reserves in terms of managing grassland and corridor maintenance.
The TER is the third new elephant reserve that got approval in the past over three months under Project Elephant. The other two were Lemru in Chhattisgarh and Agasthymalai in Tamil Nadu. The Project Elephant is a centrally sponsored scheme which supports elephant conservation in the country.
Elephant has been recognized as a National Heritage Animal of India and the highest degree of protection has been given to it under Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. India has the largest population of Asian elephants with 30,000 wild and about 3,600 captive ones.
All 33 elephant reserves put together cover a total area of nearly 80,000 sq km. Tamil Nadu and Assam have the highest number of elephant reserves with five each in both the states followed by four in Kerala, three in Odisha, two each in Uttar Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Nagaland and West Bengal, and one each in Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Meghalaya and Uttarakhand.
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