Elephant census begins in Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve in TN

Erode: After a gap of six years, the Tamil Nadu Forest department on Wednesday commenced a three-day long elephant census at Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve.

The enumeration exercise will be conducted in all 10 forest ranges of Sathyamangalam, Vilamundy, Bhavanisagar, Hassanure, Geermalam, Thalavadi, Gettavadi, Jeerahalli, Kadambur and Thooka Naicken Palayam till May 19, forest officials said.

The Forest department had carried out such a survey back in 2017 and the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the work over the last few years. In 2017, the census showed there were 866 elephants in STR alone and officials have stated that the population has increased since then.

After completing the census on Friday, a detailed report will be sent to the government and the Forest department would later announce the elephant population data in STR.

Similarly, enumeration work of the jumbos began in several other forest areas of the district.