With 94 elephant fatalities in a year, Odisha turns into India’s jumbo graveyard
With 94 elephant fatalities in a year, Odisha turns into India’s jumbo
graveyard
The Statesman
April 6, 2025
See link
https://www.thestatesman.com/cities/bhubaneshwar/with-94-elephant-fatalities-in-a-year-odisha-turns-into-indias-jumbo-graveyard-1503416043.html
for photo.
With Odisha recording an all-time yearly high record of 94 elephant deaths
in 2024-25 (till 18.3.2025), the state has acquired the dubious distinction
of being the elephant graveyard of India.
The current financial year has also recorded the highest number of 31
elephants killed by electrocution all of which were avoidable deaths.
Compared to Karnataka, Assam, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala the elephant death
rate in Odisha is much higher revealing breakdown of protection, charged
Biswajit Mohanty, Secretary, Wildlife Society of Orissa
Odisha was once known for its magnificent elephants and was raided by many
kings including Mughals for its prized war elephants. There are references
to the massive elephants of Odisha in the Mahabharata war too. Due to a
host of unnatural reasons, Odisha is now India’s largest graveyard for
elephants. Electrocution, train hits and poaching deaths are among the top
two leading causes for unnatural deaths.
A total of 1,191 elephant deaths, from all causes, have been reported which
includes 316 poaching and electrocution deaths. Trains and heavy vehicles
killed 52 elephants. Deaths of 257 elephants for “unknown cause” as claimed
by the forest department are misleading. Most are actually poaching deaths.
Decomposed carcasses were detected after several weeks which made post
mortem impossible to determine the cause.
Athagarh continues to be a hotspot for elephant poaching. Such deaths are
routinely covered up by the local staff by burying or burning the carcasses
without recording the offence.
Claiming Anthrax as the cause eliminated the need to carry out a proper
post-mortem and investigation for the true cause of death and was an excuse
to cover up poaching cases. An RTI response from Animal Disease Research
Institute (ADRI), Phulnakhara in 2020 revealed that of the 20 samples
received by them mostly from Similipal, Hadgarh and Kuldiha sanctuaries
between August, 2017 and December, 2019, only 2 were found to be Anthrax
positive which meant 90 percent of the suspected Anthrax cases were false.
Despite demand by WSO to re-open the 90 per cent cases not proved to be
Anthrax the department preferred to cover them. Therefore, at least 18
cases out of the 503 cases shown as “natural, infighting, and disease
deaths” have been wrongly recorded.
The current year has been devastating for elephants due to the highest ever
record of electrocution deaths of 31 so far (till 18.3.2025). Highest
electrocution deaths of 8 elephants were recorded from Sambalpur followed
by 4 in Khordha and 4 in Angul districts 31. 15 elephants died in the state
due to electrified fences and 11 died due to live wire poaching which
revealed an awful breakdown of patrolling by forest department and Tata
Power officers.
Shockingly, five elephants died in the year due to sagging overhead power
lines or unsafe poles which reveals gross negligence of Tata Power to
prevent such serious threats.
All these 31 electrocution deaths in the year could have been prevented if
Tata Power had invested money in safety and the forest department had
conducted adequate joint patrols with their officers to check electrified
fences and live wire poaching wires. There is zero accountability for such
deaths since not a single official of Tata Power has been convicted, WSO
Secretary Mojanty pointed out.