Decks cleared for Terai Elephant Reserve in Lakhimpuri Kheri district
Lucknow: Roads have now been made easier for Terai Elephant Reserve (TER) in Lakhimpur Kheri district after the approval of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
The proposal for this was drafted by Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (DTR) officials in April this year and sent to the Union ministry on October 11. The TER will be 33rd in the country and second in Uttar Pradesh, said Ramesh Pandey, director of Project Elephant at MoEFCC.
The first elephant reserve in Uttar Pradesh was notified in 2009 at Shivalik in Saharanpur and Bijnor districts.
Pandey said, the TER will be set up over an area of 3,049.39 sq km which includes Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR), Dudhwa National Park (DNP), Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary (KWS), Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary (KGWS), Dudhwa buffer zone and forest area.
He said, the work on the new TER will start soon after the Uttar Pradesh government issues a notification in this regard. With the TER coming into existence, the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (DTR) houses four coveted wild species – tiger, one horn. Will earn credit for protecting and protecting the rhinoceros, Asian elephant and swamp deer.
Sanjay Kumar Pathak, Field Director, Dudhwa said, setting up of an elephant reserve in Dudhwa would not only boost eco-tourism, but also adopt an elephant-centric approach for their conservation under Project Elephant, apart from managing camp or captive Dudhwa elephants. will also help.
It will also help in effectively handling human-elephant conflicts which are currently state-dependent. Elaborating on TER, Project Elephant Director Ramesh Pandey said, the need for an elephant reserve in Dudhwa region was felt when the wild A study on tuskers showed that migratory elephants that previously visited Dudhwa, Katarniaghat, Pilibhit and other Terai regions from neighboring regions, including Nepal, returned to their native destinations, tending to stay here permanently.
Pandey said, whether it is the effect of habitat disturbances in their migration corridors, the point is that the number of wild tuskers in the DTR has increased to over 150 and their status has changed from migrant to resident. Pandey said that, it is urgent. There is a need to conserve these tuskers and their corridors and this can be ensured through the establishment of Terai Elephant Reserve. He said, after the establishment of TER, all financial and technical support would be available to the reserve which would give impetus to the conservation of wildlife in general and wild elephants in particular.
The elephant reserve in the Terai region assumed much importance as it was located on the Indo-Nepal border where trans-national migration of wild tuskers was a regular one, giving rise to human-elephant conflicts, Pandey said. Fields of Dudhwa Director Sanjay Pathak said, financial and technical support under Project Elephant will enable TER to effectively handle human-elephant conflicts. Pathak said, furthermore, more and more local people are engaged in conservation of elephants and development of environment. DTR has always been an ideal destination for decades for migratory wild elephants through various domestic and cross-border corridors.
The DTR has for decades attracted wild elephants through various domestic and cross-border corridors, including the Basanta-Dudhwa, Laljhari (Nepal)-Sathiana and Shuklaphanta (Nepal)-Dhaka-Pilibhit-Dudhwa buffer zone corridors. Pathak said, the Terai Elephant Reserve under the Elephant Project will help in reviving or restoring these corridors, which have been abandoned.
