NEW DELHI: Despite the government initiating measures, wild elephants have killed as many as 1,701 people in 16 states between 2020 and 2023 with the highest of 605 casualties reported in 2022-23.
According to the government data, of the total casualties in 2022-23, a total of 148 deaths were reported from Odisha, followed by West Bengal with 97, and Chhattisgarh with 96 in addition to others. The figure stood at 535 in 2021-22.
In 2020-21, a total of 461 human casualties were reported that rose to 535 the following year in states which have wider and dense forest coverage housing considerable number of elephants. While Jharkhand had reported the highest number of 133 casualties due to in 2021-22, Odisha replaced it the next year 148 deaths, the government data indicates.
As per an official data shared by the government during the recent Rajya Sabha session, Odisha had reported the highest number of 93 human casualties in 2020-21, overtaken by Jharkhand in 2021-22 with 133 human casualties. Notably, all these 16 states have not only reported human casualties, but also elephant deaths due to various reasons.
In the last five years — 2018-19 to 2022-23 — the 16 states had reported total deaths of 75 elephants after being knocked down by trains passing through the forest areas. “Fifteen elephants were killed in 2022-23 and 2021-22, while 14 died in 2019-20. In 2018-19, the figure was the highest with 19 jumbos losing their lives after being knocked down by the locomotives of trains in 10 states — Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Tripura, Odisha, Kerala, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Assam,” said an official data.
Similarly, a total of 379 elephant lives were lost to electrocution in the last 5 years in 10 states, including 100 in 2022-23, 57 in 2021-22, 65 in 2020-21, 76 in 2019-20 and 81 in 2018-19. In 2022-23, the deaths of 14 elephants due to poaching were reported, 4 in 2021-22, 14 in 2020-21, 9 in 2019-20 and 6 in 2018-19 from 16 states namely, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, UP, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Meghalaya, Kerala, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and other states.
In total, 47 elephant casualties were reported in last 5 years from across the 16 states due to poaching.
Odisha again reported the highest number of 8 elephant casualties due to poaching in 2022-23, followed Meghalaya with 3. In 2021-22, Tamil Nadu had reported the highest number of 3 elephant casualties, compared to 7 in Meghalaya in 2020-21.
As per the government data, 21 elephants were poisoned to deaths in the 16 states in the last 5 years with the highest number being of six reported from Assam in 2021-22.