Elephant mortality rate very high in Odisha
As the people across the globe will celebrate the World Elephant Day on August 12, animal protection activists in Odisha on Tuesday feared an uncertain and dangerous future for the pachyderms.
The safety of the National Heritage Animal (NHA) in the state, also known as the land of Gajapati for its rich elephant population, is in peril.
According to state government statistics, there were 2,044 elephants in Odisha in 1979 in the dense forests of Dhenkanal, Deogarh, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Sambalpur, Angul, Sundargarh and Cuttack.
Last counted in 2017, their number has reduced to 1,976.
According to Dr Biswajit Mohanty, a leading wildlife protection activist, elephants in Odisha have been forced to leave their native forests scattering into smaller populations and spreading out to several other districts. Notably no census has been undertaken since last three years in Odisha.
“Odisha loses more elephants than other elephant-bearing Indian states which register a steady increase in their population. The state also poses all the identified threats and dangers that elephants come across in India and Asia. The devastating changes in Odisha’s elephant landscape because of increasing mining and construction activities, electrocution and train accidents have virtually decimated the elephant habitats and traditional corridors bringing them into frequent conflict with humans and the many threats in and around human habitations,” said Dr Mohanty.
Keonjhar district which had 112 elephants in 2002, had just 40 of them in 2017, losing them to large scale mining but Dhenkanal district which had 81 elephants in 2002, had 169 in 2017 as elephants got trapped as they could not cross over to other forests on their traditional migration routes cut off by Rengali irrigation canal network.
Today, Dhenkanal witnesses more human-elephant conflict than any other district in Odisha, added Dr Mohanty.
“Similarly, the 60-odd elephants from the Chandaka sanctuary were so affected by development activities that they have now virtually abandoned the sanctuary and migrated to Ganjam and Cuttack districts. In fact, only one elephant was counted in Chandaka sanctuary during the 2017 census,” he pointed out.
The elephant mortality rate is rising alarmingly as the average death per year which was 33 from
1990 to 2000 became 46 per year from 2000 to 2010, but since 2010, the average has become 78 per year.
While 463 elephant deaths were recorded during 2000 to 2010, the number grew sharply to 784 elephant deaths from 2010 to 2020.
“Of the 784 deaths in the last ten years, 281 (36 percent) elephants died an unnatural death and in 160
(20 percent) cases the cause of death could not be ascertained primarily due to finding of bodies in highly decomposed state.
“One could conclude that nearly 50 per cent of the elephant mortality in Odisha is unnaturally caused,” said Dr Gouranga Charan Rout, a leading forest conservation activist of Rayagada in south Odisha.