Study on present Kallar elephant corridor

Increased vehicular traffic through ghat roads affects movement of the elephants. A study to assess the present condition of the Kallar elephant corridor and suggest measures for its effective management has revealed that the corridor narrowed down at a few places. Also, it has been disconnected at two places.

Conservator of Forests, Coimbatore Circle, P.C. Tyagi, and District Forest Officer, Coimbatore, I. Anwardeen had roped in ATREE of Bangalore, World Wildlife Fund and the Nilgiris Eastern Ghats Landscape Project to conduct the study.Camera traps and habitat usage strategies were used. The study indicated that the corridor was a narrow pathway used by elephants to migrate to the large forest. The Kallar - Jakkanari corridor was considered crucial in the Coimbatore division since it served as a migratory route for the pachyderms from Moyyar in the Nilgiris to Silent Valley in Kerala along the Tamil Nadu border and was also important in the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve (NBR). The study showed the corridor was disconnected at two places because of human interference, structures obstructing movement of the elephants, especially the calves.

Obstruction in the corridor would affect the genetic exchange of the elephant population that migrated during seasons for breeding, the study said. The disconnection was primarily due to the cutting across the corridor by the ghat road between Mettuppalayam and Coonoor near Kallar and again the Mettuppalayam - Kotagiri Road. The roads at present had heavy traffic, around 4,000 vehicles a day during normal days and 7,000 to 10,000 vehicles a day during weekends and the tourist season. This affected the movement of the elephants to a considerable extent. Hence the study hinted at the need to regulate vehicles at least in the night when the elephants moved and suggested the Government construct flyovers at Kallar and on Kotagiri road at the commencement of the ghat section. The disruption of the corridor resulted in the elephants straying into patta and farmlands.Recently, two persons were trampled to death by the elephants here.

The study also indicated the need to remove life-size hoardings along the ghat road at Kallar. The study suggested changes in land use and cropping pattern, especially along the fringe areas of the forest, so that luring crops were not cultivated along forest boundaries.

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