BHUBANESWAR: Odisha government will conduct the elephant census in the state from May 22 to 24 after a gap of seven years.
Official sources in the Forest and Environment department said the All Odisha Elephant Estimation 2024 will be taken up across 43 divisions using direct count method and process for the same has been set in motion.
The last jumbo census in the state had been undertaken way back in 2017, in which Odisha had recorded a total head count of 1,976, a marginal rise from the previous census figure of 1,954 in 2015.
The department could not take up the exercise thereafter for multiple reasons, including cyclone Fani in May, 2019 and subsequent outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic.
However, rampant poaching, including in protected areas of Similipal Tiger Reserve, however, triggered apprehensions on the protection measures for the elephants necessitating the head count exercise for preparation of a better conservation plan.
The state has lost close to 700 elephants in the last eight years. The state forest minister had informed the Assembly last year that a total of 698 jumbos perished between 2015 and 2023. Poaching, poisoning, electrocution, road accidents and train collisions have remained the major cause of elephant deaths in the state for years.
For the census, a total of 1,136 machans will be constructed and used in addition to barracks, watch towers and other such establishments of the department for use by the census teams.
While requisite training at all levels will be completed by May 15, census units with kits will take positions on the field by May 21 and continue the counting exercise for the next three days till May 24. The collected data will then be analysed at range, division and circle level and finally at the headquarters for arriving at the final figure, forest officials said.