Bhubaneswar: Coming in the wake of the gruesome mowing down of two elephants by a goods train in Khurda Saturday night, an RTI response has revealed that, at least 1,356 elephants have died in the coastal state between 2001 and 2021.
With 93 jumbo deaths, the state witnessed a maximum number of fatalities in 2018-19. As many as 82 and 77 pachyderms died for various reasons in 2019-20 and 2020-21 respectively. Meanwhile, 44 jumbos have already lost their lives till November 29 in the current financial year.
Most of the deaths took place in the forest regions of Dhenkanal, Athagarh, Keonjhar and Similipal during the last two decades. As many as 178 elephants died in Dhenkanal while Athagarh forest division saw 133 jumbo deaths during this period. The Keonjhar and Keonjhar (wildlife) division registered 111 and 30 deaths respectively. Similarly, 94 deaths were registered in Similipal south while two deaths were reported in Similipal north.
Data revealed that diseases, electrocution, poaching and accident are the biggest threat to the jumbos in the state. Almost 29 per cent of jumbo deaths during the period were caused owing to diseases. As many as 392 pachyderms died due to diseases like Anthrax (51), Herpes (seven) between 2001 and 2021.
Research scholar Bismaya Kumar Tripathy said the big mammals suffer from various diseases caused by the change of habitats and food practices. The diseases spread fast among the mammals due to inter-community breeding caused by a lack of connectivity with other herds. Sagging electric wires running through important elephant habitats were also death traps for the big mammals.