To check the increased threat of poachers and for better supervision of the forests in the state, the Uttaranchal government has decided to take help from trained elephants from Assam. The state government has initiated the process to hire 80 trained elephants on lease from Assam for the next 30 to 35 years.

Apart from patrolling the forests, these elephants would also be used to ferry wildlife tourists. More than 60 per cent of the total land mass of Uttaranchal state is forest land and the state has six wildlife sanctuaries and six wildlife parks.

Since the state shares a 274-km long porous border with Nepal, the state is turning out to be a major hunting ground for poachers. The recent seizure of six leopard skins from Panipat also pointed towards active involvement of poachers in illicit trade of organs of wild animals. According to wildlife officials the persons caught with the leopard skins said that taking advantage of the strike by forest staff, they killed six leopards in the state. The state Forest staff was on strike for the past three weeks.

State Chief Wildlife Warden Srikant Chandola said the trained elephants would be used for patrolling reserved forests, particularly during monsoon when the roads are inaccessible. The department had been using elephants in the Rajaji park area to ferry tourists. Chandola said the elephants are expected to reach by March, 2007 at a cost of Rs 3.6 crore.