A Stark Count of 136 Elephant Deaths
Odisha’s latest mortality figures reveal a deepening conservation crisis: 136 wild elephants have died in the state in just 18 months—from April 2024 to September 2025. The number highlights how persistently electrocution, disease, poaching, and infrastructure-driven accidents continue to undermine protection efforts, despite years of state and national investment. The data, released in the Odisha Assembly, positions the problem not as a sudden spike but as a sustained pattern of stress on one of India’s most important elephant populations.
Chronic Causes Behind the Losses
Forest Minister Ganesh Ram Singkhuntia noted that elephant deaths were spread across multiple districts, pointing to systemic vulnerabilities rather than localised failures. Over 90 individuals linked to poaching, deliberate live-wire killings, and related crimes have been arrested, but enforcement remains reactive.
Electrocution—caused both by poorly maintained power lines and illegal live-wire traps—remains the single largest killer. Odisha’s long record underscores the scale: at least 120 electrocution deaths from 2009 to 2019, and dozens more since. Railway collisions add an additional threat, especially along tracks running through mining and forest belts where elephant movement has intensified due to habitat fragmentation.
Government Schemes: Protection Tools and Their Limits
Odisha’s response includes multiple schemes aimed at infrastructure safety and conflict reduction. In 2021, the state sanctioned around ₹445 crore for power-line insulation and structural upgrades across elephant landscapes—meant to prevent accidental contact and limit poachers’ ability to tap live wires. Pilot interventions such as Keonjhar’s “hanging solar fence” along railway tracks mark early attempts to create non-lethal deterrents where herds frequently cross.
At the national level, Odisha benefits from Project Elephant, which supports habitat restoration, corridor conservation, anti-poaching units, and compensation for conflict-related losses. Complementary MoEFCC frameworks encourage coordinated action with Railways and Power Ministries, while ex-gratia norms aim to reduce retaliatory killings.
Public-private models add another dimension. Tata Power’s Gaja Sanrakshana, implemented with SNEHA, focuses on retrofitting unsafe lines, community-based early-warning systems, and training of local volunteers (“Gaja Sathis”) across high-conflict villages. Meanwhile, the state’s Human–Elephant Conflict (HEC) zonation plan—monitored by the High Court—attempts to regulate infrastructure, alert systems, and rapid-response deployment along key corridors.
Assessing the Protection Architecture
Despite these tools, the persistently high mortality rate shows that implementation is lagging behind ecological reality. Power-line insulation is incomplete, elephant corridors remain encroached or fragmented, and railway mitigation is inconsistent. Experts argue that lack of coordination between departments—forest, energy, railways, district administrations—creates protection gaps elephants repeatedly fall through.
The announcement of the Centre for Species Survival: Asian Elephant at Godibari, in partnership with global conservation bodies, marks a promising step toward long-term scientific planning. But without immediate ground-level fixes, Odisha’s flagship species remains at risk.
Confronting a Crisis That Demands Integration, Not Fragmentation
Odisha’s elephant deaths represent more than a conservation setback—they reflect governance gaps in managing a fast-changing landscape. Existing schemes show intent, but fragmented execution reduces their impact. A shift toward integrated corridor management, rapid enforcement against electrocution and poaching, and strict accountability across energy and rail infrastructure is essential. With 136 deaths in 18 months, the state’s elephants are sending a clear message: protection must move from paperwork to action before the losses become irreversible.
(With agency inputs)
