Odisha, India: Ivory poaching, lost corridors and increasing human/elephant conflict

Odisha, India: Ivory poaching, lost corridors and increasing human/elephant conflict! Odisha has the least managed and studied elephant herds of India! For over twenty years, I (Philip) has been monitoring the plight of the elephants of this magical region. There's much difficult topography to navigate here with mountainous areas with heavy scrub. The author of this article appears confident of the numbers of elephants still roving these lands. We can't really be so sure of the numbers, as elephant census counts are prone to huge error. Dung counts, water hole counts and other methods are controversial for their accuracy. They have been found to be up to 30 percent off! The most striking number in this article is the statement that 114 elephants were poached for their ivory in the past ten years. This is over 5% of the entire elephant population of Odisha and thus over 10 percent of the bull elephant population (only Asian elephant males have tusks). Thus, of all the Asian elephant range states/countries -- this is the highest level of ivory poaching and is of huge concern!

Every elephant corridor matters! Every time a corridor is broken or blocked results in the elephants scattering into surrounding farms and villages - resulting in crop raiding and human death. The government and developers need to consider that they are sacrificing, basically killing, a neighboring farmer, friend or family member for each few hectares of land stolen from elephants. These are real human lives lost due to profit motives of corrupt politicians and their greedy friends...often their political benefactors.

The solution: Ironclad laws to protect all remaining corridors, restoration of historical corridors, enhancement of forest water holes, elephant patrols, enforcement of laws governing electric fencing and electric distribution systems. This is but a start!

go here: https://science.thewire.in/environment/world-elephant-day-odisha-deaths-poaching-conservation/?fbclid=IwAR2HMBoWNqN3oibTODpeG9J42XSO0zT3xJlB7q9kx-ylFpu5mEfYOnGCRHg