As many as 3,310 people have died due to attacks by wild elephants in the last seven years. The data was revealed by the ministry of forest, environment and climate change in response to an RTI application.
Kerala-based RTI campaigner K Govindan Nampoothiry, in his RTI query, has sought details about the death toll due to the wild pachyderm attacks in the last seven years.
The reply revealed that Odisha has the maximum number of deaths, followed by West Bengal, Assam, Chattisgarh and Jharkhand.
While Odisha registered the maximum deaths, 589, during 2014-15 to 2020-21 (as per the data up to December 31, 2020). In West Bengal, 562 people have died in wild elephant attacks. It is followed by Assam (479), Chhattisgarh (413) and Jharkhand (480).
"The highest number of deaths was reported in 2019-20; 585 people were killed by wild elephants, reveals the RTI document. While in 2016-17, 516 and in 2017-18, 506 people lost their lives," Nampoothiry told India Today.
"The rise in the number of human deaths due to wild elephant attacks is alarming. It questions the efficiency of various so-called projects announced by the Forest Ministry to counter man-animal conflicts. A proper mechanism should be developed to minimalize human loss due to wildlife conflicts. It is the need of the hour. In addition to this, the Ministry should hold emergency talks with the states which register maximum deaths," Govindan Nampoothiry said.
According to official data, there are about 27,312 elephants in the wild. India has the world's largest population of Asiatic elephants spread across states in many jungles and elephant reserves.
With elephants living in close proximity to the population, the animal-human conflict is leading to a rising loss of human lives.
Comment: Just to underscore this rising trend in fatal
elephant attacks, see this June, 2021 report concerning the situation on the nearby island of Sri Lanka:
55 people killed in 6 months due to human-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka
Fifty-five people were killed across Sri Lanka within the past six months over the human-elephant conflict, local media reported on Tuesday.
A total of 158 wild elephants were also killed in the period.
According to a report by Sri Lanka's Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC), the 158 elephants were killed from electrocution, explosive baits called "Hakka Patas," and gunshot wounds, among others.
The DWC said earlier this year that the deaths of elephants caused by the human-elephant conflict had declined in 2020 in the country after it recorded the world's highest number of elephant deaths due to human actions in 2019.
Official statistics showed that 318 elephants were killed in 2020 compared with 407 in 2019, which ranked Sri Lanka as the world's number one country for elephant deaths due to conflicts with humans.
A total of 112 persons were killed due to elephant attacks in 2020, recording a drop of 8 percent in human deaths since 2019.
Killing wild elephants in Sri Lanka is a criminal offense but there have been regular reports of angry villagers poisoning or shooting them.
Official records showed the population of wild elephants in Sri Lanka is estimated at 7,500.
Comment: Just to underscore this rising trend in fatal elephant attacks, see this June, 2021 report concerning the situation on the nearby island of Sri Lanka: