Ooty: In tune with the national-level synchronized elephant census, the counting of pachyderms got underway in the jungles in Nilgiris, on Wednesday morning with help of foresters and volunteers.
V.A.Saravanan, deputy director of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR), said that this is an effort to count the number of jumbos moving freely in the jungles in Nilgiris. Apart from MTR woods, census is underway in the Nilgiris north and south division forests and also Gudalur forest division , which are contiguous, wherein the wild jumbos that are migratory in nature crisscross the jungles.
This is the first time a synchronized elephant census is being done in the country that is expected to give a clear picture on the population of elephants in the country as a whole, and in each forest divisions in the district and state level, he said, adding, for the census the MTR woods has been divided into 25 blocks. About five persons will be on counting duty in each block.
As per the norms laid down for the census, two direct sighting methods and one indirect sighting method will be adopted in the three-day census to count the wild jumbos, he said. Apart from MTR, the census teams are at work in Nilgiris north, south and Gudalur forest divisions.
