BHUBANESWAR: Chief wildlife warden Susanta Nanda on Tuesday said the Forest department will conduct a three-day estimation to assess the elephant populationthat uses the Odisha landscape.
The estimation has been planned from November 14 to 16 and would apparently help understand the state’s carrying capacity of the scheduled species.
Nanda said the dates have been chosen as they coincide with migration of elephants from adjoining states in the kharif harvesting season.
“A study carried out by Prof Raman Sukumar of Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc-Bangalore in 2018 revealed Odisha at best is suitable to hold around 1,600 to 1,700 elephants within the safe limit. However, the current population is in the range of 2,000 to 2,100,” said Nanda.
Odisha has 400 more elephants than its carrying capacity allows, he added. Nanda attributed the excess number to be a key reason behind shortage of habitable land and food for the elephants in the wild, high bacterial load among calf and sub-adult elephants and growing human-wildlife conflict in the state.
The Odisha Elephant Census 2024 report of the Forest and Environment department, released in June had pegged the total elephant population in the state to be 2,098 which was 122 more than the previous count of 1,976 in 2017.
The department is under pressure for a spate of elephant deaths in the recent months, primarily due to electrocution, accident and retaliatory killing, prompting Forest and Environment minister Ganesh Ram Singhkhuntia to order a probe.