Death of 39 elephants in a year in Odisha is a matter of concern

The death of 39 elephants in a year in Odisha is a matter of concern for the wildlife wing of the forest department and they appear to have no clue as to how the deaths occurred even though months have passed after discovering the carcasses.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 21 June 2016.

These 39 elephants had died within a span of 14 months between April 2015 and June 12, 2016 and six of these came to the notice of the department after a month and three after four months. It seems a total of 91 elephants had died in the past 14 months, and 39 of the carcasses were decomposed. These are findings of a survey conducted by Wildlife Society of Odisha (WSO) which is an NGO working for conservation of wildlife.
As per the 2015 elephant census, the jumbo population in the state had increased up by 24, but the number of reported deaths since then must have brought down their numbers. The census had pegged the number of female elephants at 1096 and tusker at 341 besides 490 adult elephants.
The usual practice is for local villagers to inform the forest officials about the deaths of the animals. On June 12, the wildlife wing had reported death of three elephants - it had been attributed to lightning strikes. In case of fully decomposed carcasses, it is difficult to ascertain the cause.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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