Help Elephants in South India

The largest single population of Asian elephants in the world, about 1000 individuals, is found in a 4500sq km area where the Southern Indian states. The best forage is in the Tamil Nadu section but the elephants need to migrate to Kerala and Karnataka each summer when water and food become scarce. In order to migrate the elephants must pass through a corridor which is only about 2.5 km wide. The major inter-state highway which links Bangalore with Calicut passes through this corridor. It is used by hundreds of vehicles round the clock.

Recently a decision was made to relocate four different Kerala government check-posts to within the corridor. This would involve all manner of infrastructure building complexes, housing, offices, toilets and dormitories for drivers, a fuel filling station and so on. Trenches are already being dug to prevent the elephants from migrating, thus threatening their survival. A suitable alternative site for these check-posts exists outside the forest.

Government is requested to reconsider their decision and look for the alternatives, else the already endangared elephants will extinct.