Bhubaneswar: A total of 888 elephants have died due to various reasons in the State during the past 11 years, Forest, Environment and Climate Change Minister Ganesh Ram Singkhuntia told Assembly in response to a query of BJP legislator Prasanta Kumar Jagadev.
Diseases, accidents, poaching and electrocution were some of the other reasons for elephant deaths in the State, he said.
The Minister said 158 elephants were electrocuted to death between 2014-15 and 2024-25 (till February, 2025) while poachers killed 33 elephants.
Similarly, 29 elephants perished after being hit by speeding trains, 8 elephants died in road accidents, two due to poisoning and 16 jumbos were killed in a pre-planned manner, he said.
He further informed that 143 elephants died in various incidents like infighting, slipping from mountains, falling into Nullah, etc during the period. Diseases claimed the lives of the highest number of pachyderms (306) and natural reasons have been attributed as the cause of 93 elephant deaths.The Forest and Environment Department don’t know the reason behind the death of 100 jumbos.
As per the Minister’s statement, the current financial year 2024-25 has emerged as the worst year for elephants in Odisha as 97 pachyderms died during the 11 months of this year, which is highest during the past 11 years.
Odisha reported death of 92 elephants each during 2022-23 and 2018-19, whereas 54 pachyderms died in 2014-15, the lowest among these 11 years.
Out of the 97 deaths reported during the current fiscal, 32 elephants were killed due to electrocution, three by poachers, 17 due to natural causes, 16 for diseases, and three due to rail accidents, Shri Khuntia said.
During April to February this year, 19 elephants were killed due to some unknown reasons, four other wild jumbos were killed in a planned action, he added.
In his reply, the Minister said elephant attacks in the state have also left 1209 people dead during the period. The state government has been providing compensation of Rs 6 lakh in case of death of a person in a wild elephant attack.
The state also provides compensation of Rs 20,000 per acre for loss of paddy and other cereal crops by elephants while Rs 25,000 being provided for loss of an acre of cash crop by the jumbos, he added.
According to the latest elephant census conducted last year, 2103 elephants were found in different forests of Odisha.