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Elephant rescue centre to be set up in Chandragiri
An elephant rescue-cum-rehabilitation centre is likely to be set up in Chandragiri Reserve Forest area under Ghumsur NorthForest Division in Ganjam district.
Berhampur: An elephant rescue-cum-rehabilitation centre is likely to be set up in Chandragiri Reserve Forest area under Ghumsur NorthForest Division in Ganjam district.
The proposed centre by Ghumsur North Forest Division is un-der active consideration of the State Government and it is like-ly to be approved soon, said Pradyumna Kumar Nayak, Bhan-janagar MLA. Nayak has already discussed the issue with For-est, Environment and Climate Change Minister Ganesh Ram Singhkhuntia.
The rescue centre for elephants in Chandragiri Reserve Forest will be the third such facility in the State after Chandaka and Kapilash. The centre would be spread over 21 hectares near Beruabadi and house eight elephants, said Himansu Sekhar Mohanty, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Ghumsur North. “Be-sides treating injured and ailing elephants, the centre will pro-vide an environment for quick recovery, enabling the jumbos to get back to their active herds again,” the DFO said.
The centre will also look after elephants in forest divisions in-cluding Ghumsur North having 61 elephants, Berhampur-32, Paralakhemundi-9,Nayagarh-37, Boudh-16, Baliguda-32 and Phulbani-22, sources said. The number of elephants were re-vealed after three days of winter census from November 14 to 16 in these divisions. Elephants were not found in 13 divisions of Odisha, including Ghumsur South Division of Ganjam, during the winter census. The centre will include a quarantine and treatment unit, tran-sition zone, water facilities, solar lighting and fodder cultiva-tion area. It will take care of elephants that are aged, injured or ailing. The centre will be headed by a range officer and en-tail an expenditure of around Rs 3 crore. The State govern-ment will bear the daily expenses of the centre. Besides, the centre also will provide funds for development activities at the facility.
Since the area has a sizeable population of elephants, wildlife activists had demanded setting up of elephant rescue-cum-rehabilitation centre in the area. The elephants from the neighbouring divisions also migrate to other areas frequently.
A total of 2,103 elephants were counted in Odisha. Those in-clude 334 adult tuskers, 12 adult makhnas, 678 adult females, 186 sub-adult tuskers, 4 sub-adult makhnas, 305 sub-adult fe-males, 181 juveniles and 403 calves, revealed the All-Odisha Elephant Census 2024 (Winter) report of the Forest depart-ment. The census was carried out in 48 forest divisions across 28 districts of Odisha.
