MIKE or Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants Programme

MIKE

MIKE or Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants Programme, was established by COP to CITES at its tenth Harare (Zimbabwe) meeting in 1997 to monitor elephant poaching.

MIKE aims to provide the required information for 32 elephant-range countries in Africa and 13 elephant-range countries in Asia (including India) to make appropriate management and law enforcement decisions so that these countries can execute long-range management strategies.

It is conducted according to the provisions in resolution conf 10.10 on Trade in elephant specimens.

OBJECTIVES OF MONITORING OF ILLEGAL KILLING OF ELEPHANTS PROGRAMME

The following are the objectives of Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants Programme

  1. To measure levels and trends of elephant poaching.
  2. Determine changes in these trends over time.
  3. To find out the factors causing changes.

MIKE DATA

The MIKE data is gathered by law enforcement and ranger patrols in the field and through other means in Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants Programme sites.

When a forest patrol encounters an elephant carcass, the sex of the elephant, age of the elephant, ivory status, and decomposition stage are recorded and then submitted to the Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants Programme.

PROPORTION OF ILLEGALLY KILLED ELEPHANTS or PIKE

PIKE evaluates the relative poaching levels based on the proportion of elephant poaching.

It is calculated on an annual basis as the number of illegally killed elephants divided by the total elephant carcasses found (including elephants who died of natural causes and unknown causes).

In short, it is an index of poaching pressure and shows us the trends relating to the level of poaching. There are chances of data problems, so the results must be interpreted cautiously.

Elephant deaths due to human-elephant conflicts are sometimes considered illegal, and, in other cases, it is reported as management-related deaths.

MIKE SITES

There are 70 Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants Programme sites in 32 elephant range countries in Africa and 28 Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants Programme sites in 13 Asian elephant range countries.

In Africa, MIKE sites represent an estimated fifty per cent of the elephant population.

MIKE ELEPHANT SITES IN INDIA

  1. Chirang Rupa in Assam
  2. Dhang Patki in Assam
  3. Eastern Dooars in West Bengal
  4. Deomali in Arunachal Pradesh
  5. Garo Hills in Meghalaya
  6. Mysore in Karnataka
  7. Nilagiri in Tamil Nadu
  8. Shivalik in Uttarakhand
  9. Wayanad in Kerala
  10. Mayurbhanj in Odisha

For more data https://cites.org/eng/prog/mike/index.php/portal#MIKE_reports

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