On November 3, Odisha forest minister Ganesh Ram Singhkhuntia ordered an inquiry into the widespread elephant deaths in the state and directed additional chief secretary (home) Satyabrata Sahu to conduct a department-wise inquiry. The report will be submitted within a month.

Till October this year, Odisha lost 76 wild elephants, including 56 in the last six months.

Both elephant deaths and human deaths due to conflicts with them have created major challenges in the forest areas of West Bengal as well as Odisha. Between 2019 and 2024 (till October), 483 elephants died in Odisha and 116 in Bengal.

Of these deaths, 208 in Odisha and 50 in Bengal were due to unnatural causes such as electrocution, road and train accidents or targeted killings. Dhenkanal, Angul and Keonjhar divisions in Odisha recorded the highest elephant deaths; It was the Buxa Tiger Reserve and Gorumara wildlife division in Bengal.

Human deaths from encounters with elephants were higher; 755 people in Odisha and 507 people in Bengal in 2019-2024 (till October).

Both the Odisha and Bengal governments claim to have taken remedial measures. According to officials, three elephant sanctuaries have been created in Odisha, namely Mayurbhanj, Mahanadi and Sambalpur Elephant Reserves. Since 2012-13, fourteen traditional elephant corridors have been identified and protected by demarcating corridors, controlling forest fires, enriching forage fields, fencing habitats, and providing alternative livelihood options to forest-dependent people.

Under Odisha’s Elephant Management Plan and other budgetary allocations, habitat enrichment works are being carried out in forest areas through establishment of fodder fields, creation and rejuvenation of water bodies and establishment of fire precautions. Wild animal protection teams have been deployed to sensitive areas.

As per standard operating procedures (SOPs), rapid response teams have been formed to check depredation of wild elephants in forest divisions. Control rooms have been set up at division, department and headquarters levels to relay information from people about elephant raids and other wildlife problems.

In some regions, drones are used to monitor wild elephants and their habitats. The movements of wild elephants are being tracked using an elephant tracking app to give early warning to villagers. Solar lights were installed in vulnerable villages. At the community level, village volunteers called ‘Gaja Sathi’ are deployed in elephant conflict areas. Additionally, eco development committee members and school students participate in awareness campaigns.

In 2022, Odisha constituted a joint task force comprising forest and police officers and elephant experts. It is responsible for preparing action plans to control wildlife crimes and human-animal conflicts. Under the Jana Surakhya, Gaja Rakhya initiative, the government is promoting solar fences in agricultural areas.

Meetings of inter-state coordination committees (eastern region) on elephants are held regularly to reduce problems arising from migration of elephants from neighboring Chhattishgarh, Jharkhand and Bengal to Odisha. Special courts have been set up in all 30 districts of the state to try cases related to wildlife crimes. Additionally, changes to wildlife laws are also on the agenda.

In Bengal, the Elephant Movement Coordination Committee for South Bengal was established in 2016 to monitor the movements of elephant herds and coordinate activities related to conflict mitigation. All departments affected by elephants provide daily detailed reports on the locations and approximate numbers of wild elephants.

Rapid response teams were activated to deal with conflict situations and minimize loss of life and property. A mass SMS distribution system has been launched to issue alerts about the presence of wild elephants near human settlements. Eight special vehicles, called ‘Airawat’ and equipped with modern devices, were deployed in some conflict zones. Solar-powered fences have been built along sensitive village boundaries to keep wild elephants away.

While the state also has an SOP of ‘Emergency arising from wild animals straying in human-dominated land in West Bengal’, beehives, animal husbandry and ecotourism are some of the alternative livelihood options developed by the forest department to reduce the footprint of villagers. in forests, thus minimizing human-wildlife encounters.

Despite such measures, human-elephant conflicts continue to take their toll in both states. Aritra Kshettry, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) India’s national lead elephant conservationist, says the problem is simpler than the solution. “The states where the most human lives are lost to elephants are often the states with the lowest elephant populations. This is because the forests in these states are so fragmented that elephants are likely to encounter humans when they travel in search of food and water. “The more these encounters occur, the greater the risk of both human and elephant casualties,” he says.

Kshettry believes that the solution is to bring together regions like Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal, which witness loss of life every year due to human-elephant conflict. “States need to look at this problem from a ‘zoning’ or landscape perspective,” he says.

The landscape should be divided into four zones, starting from the protected area where elephants can roam freely. Then there must be corridors connecting one forest to another. The third zone should be an area where elephants and humans can coexist, such as tea or coffee plantations. Finally, there should also be exclusion zones where elephants are completely off-limits. Kshettry says management interventions such as habitat restoration, securing corridors, and even capturing and relocating elephants need to be based on this spatial prioritization. “More proactive measures are needed for effective management of human-elephant conflicts,” he adds.

Subscribe to India Today Magazine