Bhubaneswar: Thanks to sincere efforts of Ace Wildlife Lover Susanta Nanda, the much-awaited elephant census has been started today in the State after a gap of seven years.
PCCF Wildlife Shri Nanda charted out road map for Elephant Census in a scientific manner, official sources said.
The All Odisha Elephant Estimation 2024 has been started across 46 divisions out of 51 forest divisions of the State. The estimators will count the jumbos using the direct count method and the process for the same has been set in motion.
State Wildlife Organisation officials said a total of 1,136 machans along with barracks, watch towers and other such establishments will be used by the census teams. The collected data will be analysed at range, division and circle levels and finally at the headquarters for arriving at the final figure, they said.
Elephants have been detected in 46 Divisions out of 51 divisions in the State Except Malkangiri, Koraput, Puri, Kendrapara & Jagatsinghpur, all other 25 districts have elephant presence, informed Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) Wildlife, Susanta Nanda.
Odisha used to conduct its own elephant census every two years. It, however, was not done in 2019 and subsequently put on hold following the outbreak of Covid-19 in 2020.
In the last census undertaken way back in 2017, the state recorded a head count of 1,976, a marginal rise from the previous census figure of 1,954 in 2015. However, the State has also reported the death of over 400 elephants in five years between 2019-20 and 2023-24 owing to various reasons including poaching, electrocution and accidents.