The increasing number of developmental projects coming up near jungles is taking a toll on the Indian elephant.
The increasing number of developmental projects coming up near jungles is taking a toll on the Indian elephant. Over 45% of elephant deaths in the past decade were caused by electrocution, experts say.
Senior officers of Project Elephant said this has been the trend for the past many years and that they are “concerned” as they can’t stop the projects for the sake of elephants.
According to forest ministry statistics, 1,177 elephant deaths were reported in the past decade (1999-2009). Of these, 434 elephants died of electrocution and 106 in train accidents.
“Developmental projects are coming up in every state and it is hurting elephant corridors. This is the prime reason for animal-human conflict,” a senior environment and forest ministry official said.
Interestingly, even as the sacred animal is getting killed across India, the jumbo population has risen from 15,000 to 27,000 in the past three decades.
Apart from developmental deaths, the second-biggest elephant killer in India is poaching, but the trend is fast changing and the number of animals being poached is going down since 2000-01. In the past decade, 395 elephants were poached in India and the highest was in 1999 when 66 elephants were killed by ivory smugglers.
“There is a significant decline in poaching. In the last three years, there were 20 poaching deaths in 2007, 18 in 2008 and 15 this year,” the officer said.
India has some of the biggest elephant corridors in the south, particularly Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal and Jharkhand, too, have huge elephant populations.
“Each elephant herd needs about 300-400 square km for existence. But because so many developmental projects are coming up everywhere, elephants are not getting much area. As a result, they move towards small towns and villages and die while crossing railway lines or electricity towers,” the officer said.
The officer said that Rajaji National Park in Uttarakhand was a glaring example where both a national highway and a train line cross through the reserve and animals often get killed.
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