Migratory’ elephants are becoming the permanent residents of Dudhwa tiger reserve :According to Dudhwa tiger reserve, Sanjay Singh. Banke taal in Dudhwa has a herd of about 50 elephants living in the area for the last several months. “Dudhwa never had its resident elephant population” But close to 90 elephants who migrated to the reserve and never moved out in the last two years is an indication that the place has become a favourable habitat for them. They moved through different parts of the reserve to settle at Banke taal.”Half of the population in the herd is of newborns which shows migratory elephants are now settled at Dudhwa,” said the official.
Dudhwa has received migratory herds of elephants from Nepal in the past as well mainly in sugarcane season as that made plenty of food available to the migratory herds. But this is the time when sugarcane has been cut and elephants can be seen eating grasses and other vegetation in the area.With elephants becoming permanent residents of the reserve, authorities will also have to accord elephants the needed focus in the management plan for the reserve. Areas around the reserve like Palia reports huge loss of crops due to elephants every year. Last year, forest department paid about Rs 5.5 lakh as compensation against crop damages.