Bhubaneswar, June 6: As many as 403 elephants were killed during the last five years in Odisha with death of 68 elephants last year. Similarly, the number of elephants in Odisha has gone up by 122 in seven years.
Releasing the All Odisha Elephant Census 2024 report of the Forest and Environment department on Wednesday, PCCF (Wildlife) Susanta Nanda said the number of elephants in Odisha has gone up by 122, from 1,976 in 2017 to 2,098 now.
The elephants spread over 38 forest divisions include 313 adult tuskers, 12 adult makhnas, 748 adult females, 148 sub-adult males, 282 sub-adult females, 209 juveniles and 385 calves.
Similarly, there has been a substantial increase in the population of tuskers, from 344 in 2017 to 474 in 2024 (around 40 per cent).
The three-day All Odisha Elephant Census was held in May this year. The census was conducted following traditional methods of count by directing sighting. A total of 1,214 machans were constructed in 1,905 census units across the state. More than 5,700 personnel were engaged in the exercise.
The census also revealed that 2,100 to 2,200 elephants are using the forests of Odisha during a year as there is inter-state migration of jumbos from Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal.
