600 elephants electrocuted in India in 10 years

As many as 600 elephants have been killed due to electrocution in India from 2009-10 to 2019-20 with Karnataka accounting for 116 of the deaths, second only to Odisha (117).

Officials warn that constant pressure of development work in elephant ranges and climate change may pose more challenges to conservation.

Data presented by the Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change (MoEF & CC) in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday showed varied performances of 16 states, many of which had reported a decline in electrocution deaths over the past few years. There were, however, instances of when deaths spiked with Assam and Odisha recording a surge in 2018-19.

In comparison, Karnataka has fared slightly better than other states with the deaths dropping to single digits in recent years, thanks to the intervention of the Karnataka High Court. Following the death of 25 elephants in a span of six months in 2008, the high court had taken up a suo motu case and set up an expert task force which had made a set of recommendations.

Raman Sukumar, honarary professor at IISc’s Centre for Ecological Sciences, who was the chairman of the task force, said the man-elephant conflict was a complex issue that requires comprehensive measures involving all stakeholders.

“We have found that farmers are illegally drawing power from main lines, mostly to contain wild boars. One of the less appreciated issues is the fact that more elephants are roaming areas outside the forests and elephant zones. Some are going to places where they were not seen even 50 years ago. This is why the framework and the recommendations that we gave should be adopted by all the elephant states in the country,” he said.

Among the major recommendations made by the task force was the setting up of an expert group within the state wildlife board, checking land use change in elephant zones and adjoining areas, preventing fragmentation of forest zones and corridors.

Retired IFS officer Ajai Mishra, who was also part of the task force and worked on other elephant projects, said the steps taken by the department helped in bringing down the annual deaths from over 25 to less than 10.

“There is still a long way to go. We need very active committees at the district level to create awareness on conservation and take action against violations,” he
said.

Noting that elephants are long range animals that wander around 500-700 sq km areas, he said prevention of forest degradation and taking up works that will help make elephant ranges climate change-resistant were crucial steps going forward.

PCCF (wildlife) Vijay Kumar Gogi was not available for comment. An official, however, said violations in forest corridors need close monitoring.

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