With the man-animal conflict rising astronomically each day, the forest department’s lack of serious research data on elephant corridors in Coimbatore is proving costly for the poor animals.

With casualties also increasing day by day, a dire need for research on identifying traditional elephant corridors has also become imperative.

According to District Forest Officer (In-Charge) A. Periyasamy, as many as six elephant corridors have been found in Coimbatore district with the Kallar-Jakkanari elephant corridor being one of the most important routes. However, he added that the corridors could not be proved scientifically and were stated based on eye witness accounts.

Environmentalists have stated that while other corridors are used by elephants during the migratory season, the Kallar-Jakkanari Corridor, which crosses the Mettupalayam-Ooty National Highway, is used by elephants throughout the year. Speeding vehicles is one of the major troubles to elephants, which cross from Nilgris to Silent Valley, terrifying them into venturing into human habitats.

While a study was conducted on this particular corridor in 2012 to assess the possibilities of constructing a flyover, which would allow the elephants to cross the corridor without any trouble, attempts are on to verify if other routes, including the Irutupallam–Thanikandi, Thanikandi–Maruthamalai, Mangarai–Veerapandi, Nellithurai–Bhavani, and Jakkanari–Odanthurai corridors, are regularly frequented by the animals.

“There are many alleged elephant corridors in this region. But even the identified corridors were based on witness accounts, and not on scientific studies. If an intensive and dedicated study is conducted on theses corridors and other areas, where elephants are found migrating, by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), we can know for sure whether the paths have been used by the elephants traditionally,” said the DFO.

He also added that such studies could help identify encroachments and clear them.

Meanwhile, elephants frequently venturing into human habitats have become a major threat to both humans and elephants. The district administration is also feeling the heat as farmers constantly complain of crop raiding and property loss.