With as many as 857 elephants perishing in the last decade, Odisha has virtually turned into a graveyard for elephants, although national heritage animal status has been accorded to tuskers.
“In the period beginning from 2014-15 to 2024-25 (till 2 December), the state reported 857 elephant deaths. While 148 elephants were electrocuted, 30 were killed by poachers primarily for Ivory,” Forest Minister Ganesh Ram Singkhuntia informed the state Assembly on Tuesday.
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As many as 29 elephants were run over by speeding trains while seven fell prey to road accidents. A total 305 elephants died of diseases while the death of 229 elephants is attributed to natural reasons. The number of elephants which succumbed to injuries due to infighting between herds is 19. Exact cause of death of 90 elephants could not be ascertained.
The current financial year 2023-24 (till 2 December) has reported the death of 67 elephants.
In 1979, Odisha was home to 2,044 elephants in the dense forests Dhenkanal, Deogarh, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Sambalpur, Angul, Sundargarh and Cuttack. The poaching coupled with a varied degree of man-made interference has reduced the elephant population to 2,103, as per the last census conducted this winter.
The elephant mortality rate is rising alarmingly as the average death per year which was 33 per year from 1990 to 2000 became 46 per year from 2000 to 2010, but since 2010, the average has become 78 per year.
The All Odisha Elephant Census-2024 conducted this winter to assess the inter-division elephant movement pattern counted 2,103 elephants including 474 males and 1,030 females among the adults.
