The elephant will soon be declared a heritage animal, in an effort to prevent its ranks from dwindling.
The initiative was a measure for the protection of the speciesclosely associated with the religion and culture of the country, union environment and forest minister Jairam Ramesh said on Tuesday.
“We will soon declare the elephant as a national heritage animal, as it has been part of our heritage since ages. We need to give the same degree of importance to elephants, as it is given to tigers in order to protect the big animal,” Ramesh told reporters.
In the first ever report of the Elephant Task Force titled Gajah — Securing the Future for Elephants in India, submitted to the union ministry of environment and forests, it has been recommended to rationalise boundaries of elephant reserves.
“Elephant conservation requires protection of the habitat and the recent activities including mining are putting pressure on the habitat.
Over the years, more than 400 people have died due to elephant attacks, and over 100 elephants have been killed. There is a need for renewed approach and mission.
A study of the habitat will be made and presently while it will be slow-go areas, it will gradually become no-go areas over time,” Dr Mahesh Rangarajan, environmental historian and professor at department of history, Delhi University, who heads the Elephant Task Force, told DNA.
Elephant reserves should be given ecological sensitive areas tag and even today 40% of them were neither protected nor identified as government forests.
They would continue to be so. Thus boundaries need to
Tags: Animal tag, culture, Elephant, Heritage, religion
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