Alarming rise in deaths of people, elephants in human-animal conflict in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: The ever-increasing deaths of elephants as well as people in human-animal conflicts in Odisha has alarmed environmentalists and wildlife enthusiasts who blame the state Forest Department's "callous approach" for the problem and have sought an urgent action plan to prevent loss of lives.

Data released by the Wildlife Society of Odisha (WSO), in collaboration with Wildlife Protection Society of India and Elephant Family, show that, since 1990, nearly 1,400 elephants have died because of human-animal conflict, of which 591 died in the last eight years.

In the same period, 1,200 people have been killed by elephants, with the last eight years accounting for 569 of them.

From an average mortality of 33 per year between 1990 and 2000, the number grew to 46 per year between 2000 and 2010 and reached an alarming average of 73 elephants per year from 2010-11 to 2017-18.

If the rising death trend continues, it spells doom for the species as it might significantly overtake the birth rate, WSO Secretary Biswajit Mohanty said.

According to the data, of the 591 elephants' deaths since 2010, 207 died due to unnatural reasons like poaching (95) and electrocution (87); trains killed 23, two died in road accidents and seven elephants died falling into open wells.

The reasons could not be deterrmined in 111 deaths, primarily due to the fact that by the time the bodies were found, they were in highly decomposed. Since April 2015, 80 bodies were found in such as state.

"On an average Odisha is losing 18 adult breeding male elephants each year. In the last five years at least 62 adult males have been poached, but not a single culprit has been apprehended till now due to lack of an effective intelligence network," said Mohanty, accusing the Forest Department of doing precious little to protect the adult breeding males.

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