World Elephant Day: Here are some facts that point out the plight of these animals

World Elephant Day is celebrated on August 12 every year to raise awareness about the plight of elephants all over the world. Although elephants are largely celebrated and worshipped across many temples in the country, they continue to be threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching, and retaliatory killing due to conflict with humans.

PM Narendra Modi tweeted today: 'On World Elephant Day, reiterating our commitment to protect the elephant. You would be happy to know that India houses about 60% of all Asian elephants. The number of elephant reserves has risen in the last 8 years. I also laud all those involved in protecting elephants.'

The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, clearly lays down the laws that protect elephants in India. The State Forest Department works actively in each state to protect the forests and wildlife and become the first responders in the case of any untoward incident that involves wild animals.

Around 222 elephants have died due to electrocution, 45 in train accidents, 29 due to poaching and 11 died due to poisoning during the last three years, said Union minister Bhupender Yadav.

A total of 186 elephants were killed after being hit by trains across India between 2009-10 and 2020-21, according to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India.

From illegal ivory trading to increasing human-animal conflicts, elephants are subjected to many cruelties. Their habitats are also threatened by human activities.

The Western Ghats landscape is home to the largest Asian Elephant population in the world. Although large, this population is nevertheless threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching of elephants, and retaliatory killing of elephants due to conflict with humans.

There has been a 50 per cent decline in the population of Asian elephants in the last 75 years. Now, there are only 20,000 - 40,000 Asian elephants left in the wild.