As India celebrates World Elephant Day, on August 12, the distressed elephants of Odisha face an uncertain and dangerous future. Once the pride of Odisha, elephants now see the state as a graveyard.
In 1979, there were 2,044 elephants in Odisha, in the dense forests of Dhenkanal, Deogarh, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Sambalpur, Angul, Sundargarh and Cuttack. In the 2017 census, their number had dropped to 1,976. They have also been forced to leave their native forests, break up into smaller populations and scatter out into several other districts. There has been no census in three years.
Odisha loses more elephants than most elephant-bearing states even though the elephant population in some states is two- or three-times higher. The threats to elephants in Odisha are similar to those identified across many parts of India and South Asia.
A devastated landscape
Changes in Odisha’s landscape have virtually ruined elephant habitats and traditional corridors, bringing the pachyderms into frequent conflict with humans and threats in human settlements. Keonjhar district had 112 elephants in 2002 but only 40 in 2017, having lost most of them to large-scale mining. Dhenkanal district had 81 elephants in 2002 and 169 in 2017 because elephants couldn’t cross over into other forests on their traditional migration routes, cut off by the Rengali irrigation canal network. Today, Dhenkanal witnesses more human-elephant conflict than any other district in Odisha.
The 60-odd elephants from the Chandaka sanctuary were so disturbed by development activities that they have now virtually abandoned the area and moved to Ganjam and Cuttack. In fact, the 2017 census counted only one elephant in Chandaka. A group of 15-16 elephants from Chandaka that strayed into Ganjam’s Rambha forest range for five or five years has been wiped out due to electrocutions, accidents and train kills. Another similarly sized group remains holed up in Ganjam’s Khallikote range, but their number has halved. Some Chandaka elephants of Khurda district have made inroads into Puri district, where they were never seen in the past, resulting in many conflicts due to which lives have been lost on both sides.
A larger group of about 25 Chandaka elephants that migrated to Cuttack has now shrunk to fewer than 20, and moves around in small forested patches in the Athagarh and Khuntuni forest ranges in human dominated landscapes.
The Odisha government officially identified 14 elephant corridors in January 2010, covering over 870 sq. km and including three inter-state corridors – with West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. The state spent Rs 20 crore to improve these corridors. However, these paths are not protected by law, Biswajit Mohanty, the secretary of the Wildlife Society of Odisha (WSO), told The Wire Science.
Odisha had also identified five elephant reserves, and notified three of them: the Mahanadi Reserve (8,036 sq. km), the Mayurbhanj Reserve (7,043 sq. km) and the the Sambalpur Reserve (5,846 sq. km); the South Odisha Reserve (4,216 sq. km) and the Baitarani Reserve (10,516 sq. km) haven’t been notified. Mohanty said the last two were left out under pressure in 2007 from the mining lobby.
The elephants’ mortality rate in the state has been rising quickly. There were 33 elephant deaths per year on average from 1990 to 2000, then 46 per year from 2000 to 2010, and 78 per year since 2010. Of the 784 deaths in the last ten years, 281 (36%) died unnatural deaths and 160 (20%) died due to non-ascertained causes, mostly since the bodies had been found in a highly decomposed state. According to Mohanty, nearly 50% of all the elephants that die in Odisha do so for reasons other than natural causes.
And of the 784 that have died since 2010, 114 were killed by poachers (primarily for ivory). Of these 114, 79 were killed using live electric wires. Another 45 elephants died due to negligence by the power supply department, in the form of sagging power lines and poorly fixed poles. Trains killed 26, speeding vehicles on roads killed six and 11 died after falling in human-made structures like open wells and canals. The cause of death remains unknown in 160 deaths.
Electric-wire-trap poaching is a major concern and many elephants have been killed this way in Dhenkanal, Angul, Cuttack and Keonjhar districts, aided by inadequate patrols and lack of monitoring. Many forest areas have naked overhead 11-KV and 33-KV power lines that need to be insulated to keep poachers from plugging into them.
Fewer breeding male elephants
All together, about 20 adult breeding male elephants die every year. Conservative estimates suggest there may be 150-175 adult males, including sub-adults, and 80-100 large breeding males older than 20-25 years. (Mating with immature males leads to unhealthy calves and higher mortality.)
One disturbing trend in this regard is capturing wild tuskers that attack villagers or houses and keeping them inside zoos. In January 2020, the Odisha forest department captured two tuskers from Jajpur and Angul districts. One of them died due to injuries while in captivity while the other languished in Kapilash zoo. Mohanty said WSO has been demanding his release into the wild for the last six months, perhaps after radio-collaring him to track his movements.
However, the Odisha government is doing little to protect and conserve its elephants, as a result leaving the local elephant population to collapse. Mohanty and other experts say unless the government regularly monitors and fixes accountability – right from the chief minister and including the state forest ministry – elephants will continue to perish in large numbers. Mohanty said that in Keonjhar, more than 12 unnatural deaths of elephants have been reported in the last few years, but the incumbent district forest officer hasn’t faced any action.
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However, the forest department has fenced off hundreds of acres of dense forest habitat with barbed wire fences that remain in place for five to seven years at a time. They prevent elephants from moving easily between Keonjhar, Angul, Dhenkanal, Sambalpur and Sundargarh districts, leading to conflicts with local villagers. Despite repeated requests from experts to remove these fences, they have all stayed up.
On February 17 this year, the state’s environment and forests minister Bikram Keshari Arukha stated in the assembly that 246 elephants had died in Odisha between 2016-2017 and 2018-2019 due to accidental electrocution, disease, accidents involving trains and road vehicles, and of natural and other causes. Arukha also said that according to the 2017 elephant census, Odisha had 1,976 elephants. The single largest group among them – of 330 – was in the Similipal forest division; Dhenkanal had 169; Satakosia had 147; and Athagarh had 115. Of the 50 forest ranges in the state, 12 don’t have any elephants.
The minister also said the state has set up elephant conservation projects in Similipal National Park and in the Mahanadi and Sambalpur ranges. Officials are also taking steps to 14 elephant corridors and are digging new ponds in the corridors and planting saplings to feed the elephants, he added. And to prevent accidental electrocution, the minister said his office is coordinating regular meetings with officials from the state energy department as well as with railway and road transport authorities.
Ashis Senapathi is a freelancer and environmentalist. He has written for Times of India, Indian Express and Down to Earth, and has worked for the conservation of sea turtles in Odisha for over two decades.