Rains likely to bring back jumbos driven out of Tamil Nadu due to drought

Chennai: Severe drought for two consecutive years has reduced the elephant population of Tamil Nadu and it is estimated that about 400 to 500 elephants could have migrated from Tamil Nadu to neighbouring states due to the unprecedented 2016-17 drought, a senior state official said, responding to the recent figures released by the Union ministry of environment of forests, which accounted a decrease of 10 per cent in India's elephant population.

“We knew that three per cent of our population was vulnerable to drought and road accident deaths and another good population migrated to nearby Kerala and Karnataka in search of water,” the official said adding that the state is now a home to 3,500 to 4,000 elephants roughly. And with rains now lashing TN forest areas these pachyderms are expected to return, the official said.

“During dry months, usually from January to April, when there is no rainfall the elephant herds seek the neighbourhood of streams and shady forests”, said conservation scientist Dr A. Kumaraguru, member, Sathyamangalam Tiger Conservation Foundation.

From the month of July, after the first showers, they start roaming and feed on fresh grass. This grass in the hill tracts becomes long and coarse by July and August, and the elephants then show upward movements and this migration is common among elephants, he explains. The reason for the elephants and other animal’s migration into the high land continuous and uninterrupted hilly terrain, is for grazing, assured food and ideal breeding grounds.

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