Odisha, India: Least understood elephant herds in all Asia!
Odisha, India: Least understood elephant herds in all Asia! Deep tribal landscapes and few resources to maintain co-existence defines the region.
More than 527 humans have been killed in Odisha in the past 6 years. Well over 100 were killed last year.
"Large-scale mining and quarrying, industrialisation, destructions of elephant corridors, obstructions to traditional elephant movement paths by railway lines, national highways and irrigation canals, deforestation etc had led to the increasing number of encounters with humans over the years," says Biswajit Mohanty, secretary of Wildlife Society of Odisha
“Odisha’s forest department has done precious little to contain the rise in conflict. They are clueless about mitigating the conflict. While previous mitigation plans provided by experts more than two decades ago remain on paper...[Mohanty]
1,976 elephants are estimated to live in Odisha. The relative number of human deaths is magnatudes higher than in other regions of India that have yet larger numbers of wild elephants.
Between 2016-17 and 2018-19, 246 elephants had died in Odisha due to various reasons such as accidental electrocution, disease, accidents involving trains and other vehicles, natural and other causes, Bikram Keshari Arukha, Odisha's forest and environment minister stated in the state Assembly on February 17, 2020. [see attached article]
What's being done: "The minister stated that elephant conservation projects had been taken up in Similipal National Park and as well as in the Mahanadi and Sambalpur ranges. Steps had been taken to protect and restore 14 elephant corridors in Odisha." - from the attached article
"New ponds were being dug in elephant corridors including sanctuaries and national parks and saplings being raised to feed elephants. Coordination meetings were regularly held with officials of state energy department to prevent elephant deaths due to electrocution, according to the minister." [see attached]
