Bhubaneswar: Odisha witnessing a jumbo crisis. Every five day, two human lives in the State get lost owing to attack by the large mammal – elephants. Take a sample check of the last 3 months.
November 22: A villager at Jamaloi village in Sambalpur was killed by an elephant.
October 4: Elephant attack took life of one villager in Patamunda village in Sundargarh.
September 4: A youth was killed in an elephant attack in Kulukutta village in Sundargarh district.
The above three instances of Human-Animal conflict are just a tip of the iceberg. The human toll due to elephant attack is widespread in the State. Casualties come mostly from western, northern and central Odisha.
ELEPHANT – HUMAN CONFLICT
As per data available with Union Environment and Forest Ministry, Odisha tops the country in number of human casualties owing to elephant attack. The district wise data shows that deaths were mainly reported from 10-12 districts. Dhenkanal was the worst hit and is followed by Sundargarh, Mayurbhanj, Jharsuguda, Angul, Keonjhar, Baleswar, Nayagarh and Ganjam.
The data of human casualties due to elephant attack is given below.
2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 |
117 | 93 | 112 | 148 | 154 |
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A glance at the available data shows that except the Pandemic year, the human casualties due to elephant attack in the State have been on the rise. The toll has been up by nearly one-third in last 5-years. The human deaths in 2016-17 were 66.
And, Odisha leads the country in human deaths due to elephant attack since the last 10 – years. The elephant-man conflict saga continues year after year.
NAGGING POINTERS
What that raises eyebrows is given below.
- In Odisha, around 30 per cent districts are in the human-elephant conflict zones.
- The data further added that deaths were reported in the same Blocks and villages every year.
- This hints at the problem of recurring nature and lack of any preventive measures to date.
- In Jharkhand, around 54 per cent districts are identified as zones of human-elephant conflict areas.
- The human toll owing elephant attack in neighbouring Jharkhand in 2023-24 stood at 87.
SOLUTION
As per the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), there is a permanent solution to such conflicts. It says State Agriculture Department can intervene in crop-growing patterns in the villages that come along or on the elephant corridor routes.
It says, "Either farmers there may be persuaded to change the crops sown from paddy to cash crops like chilli and ginger or cultivate a bio-fence (made of thorny plants or growing beehives) by way of building up what is called a ‘living perimeter’ around the paddy crops to keep the big mammal at bay."
