According to the latest data provided by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in Rajya Sabha on February 10, 2020, from 2014-15 to 2018-19, 2,361 human deaths were recorded in elephant attacks across the country, of which 1,132 (48%) fatalities were from three States: West Bengal, Odisha and Assam.
Facts
- In Human-Elephant conflict, west Bengal reported the highest number of human casualties: 403, followed by Odisha with 397, Jharkhand with 349, and Assam with 332 deaths.
- As far as unnatural deaths of elephants (mainly due to poaching, train accidents, electrocution and poisoning) is concerned, India recorded 510 deaths in the same period (2014-15 to 2018-19). Of these, 259 (53%) occurred in these three States alone.
- These three States ( West Bengal, Odisha and Assam) are home to just about 31% of the total population of all elephants in India.
- Among the reasons for unnatural deaths of elephants, electrocution accounted for 68% of elephant deaths in the country . Assam accounted for 66 electrocution deaths, followed by Odisha with 57 deaths and Bengal with 39 fatalities.
- The second most common cause for unnatural deaths of elephants is train accidents. Between 2014-15 to 2018-19, 77 deaths were due to train accidents.
- According to the 2017 data, 27,312 elephants are three in India, of which Assam had recorded 5,719 elephants, Odisha 1,976 and West Bengal 642.
