Bhubaneswar: After Odisha’s Forest Minister Ganesh Ram Singh Khuntia’s direction for through probe into elephant deaths, top officials have made startling revelations about the severe space crunch faced by the pachyderms in the state.
According to Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF-Wildlife) Susanta Nanda, Odisha lacks adequate space to accommodate the growing jumbo population in the state.
The state has around 400 more number of elephants than the space required to accommodate the animals, he said.
Citing a study conducted by the elephant centre of the Indian Institute of Science (IIS) at Bengaluru, the PCCF said the forests of the state have space to accommodate a maximum number of around 1700 elephants. However, Odisha has over 2,100 elephants, 400 more than the number.
Therefore, elephants are seen moving towards human settlements in search of food, often leading to man-animal conflict. The immunity power and resistance among elephants against disease also dropped due to scarcity of food, causing death of many calves and ailing jumbos.
This apart, many elephants are getting killed due to electrocution and train accidents. Elephants got killed in Rourkela and Meramundali because of misunderstanding.
In view of increase in jumbo population, plans are afoot to shift some elephants to Similipal on the advice of experts. Talks will be held with local residents and people’s representatives before shifting the elephants.
Several elephants are also entering Odisha from Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. Therefore, a comprehensive elephant census will be conducted in the state on November 14 and 15 to ascertain the exact number of jumbos, the PCCF said.