Tamil Nadu gets its 5th Elephant Reserve at Agathiyamalai, Get Details Here

Tamil Nadu gets its 5th Elephant Reserve: Tamil Nadu Government has notified its 5th Elephant Reserve in the state at Agathiyamalai in Tirunelveli district. The Agasthiyamalai Elephant Reserve will be spread across 1,197.48 sq.km of land and will cover Kanyakumari and Tirunelveli areas. The announcement was made on World Elephant Day 2022 by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on social media platform Twitter. In the post shared on Twitter, Mr Stalin noted that “Elephants play a critical role in balancing the forest ecosystems. The majestic mammals are nature’s assets that we must conserve at all costs.”

On #WorldElephantDay2022, I'm glad that Tamil Nadu gets its 5th Elephant Reserve at Agathiyamalai in Tirunelveli District .

Elephants play a critical role in balancing the forest ecosystems. The majestic mammals are nature's assets that we must conserve at all costs. pic.twitter.com/5jt1WbphHT

— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) August 12, 2022

Earlier, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav had made a formal announcement about the Central Government accepting a proposal of the Tamil Nadu Forest department to notify 1,197.48 sq km area of land as an elephant reserve. The Central Government gave its consent for creation of the 5th Elephant Reserve of Tamil Nadu on 13th July 2022. In response to this, on 12th August 2022, the state government issued a formal notification declaring a total area of 1,19,748.26 hectares in the districts of Tirunelveli and Kanniyakumari as the designate Agasthyamalai Elephant Reserve.

Why have 5th Elephant Reserve in Tamil Nadu?

The declaration of Agasthyamalai region as the 5th Elephant Reserve in the state to put more emphasis on protection and conservation of Elephants within a healthy ecosystem. Designation of the area as a dedicated reserve forest will also provide connectivity of the elephant migratory paths in the landscape through proper research and effective management. As per 2010 Census, a total of 1800 Asian elephants are likely to be located within the Periyar-Agasthyamalai landscape. Of this, around 300 are locally situated in the “southern side in the Agasthiyarmalai Elephant Reserve and Mahendragiri hill ranges in the Neyyar, Shendurney, and Peppara Wildlife Sanctuaries and Kalakkad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, all located in Thiruvananthapuram Forest Division”, as per the official notification.

4 Existing Elephant Reserves in Tamil Nadu

Prior to the Agasthyamalai being declared as the 5th Elephant Reserve in the state, Tamil Nadu Government had already declared 4 other forest areas as designated reserves for Elephants. These include:

• Nilgiris-Eastern Ghat
• Nilambur Silent Valley in Coimbatore
• Srivilliputhur
• Anamalai

The announcement of Agasthyamalai Elephant Reserve as a designated protected forest area, takes the total number of Elephant Reserves in the country to 31 with the total protected forest area expanding to 76,508 sq km across 14 states. Of these, 3 have been announced as protected forest area in the last three years. This includes Dandeli Elephant Reserve has been notified by Karnataka, Singphan Elephant Reserve by Nagaland and Lemru Elephant Reserve in Chhattisgarh.