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Data accessed by ‘Express’ shows that 88 humans also lost their lives in human-animal conflicts during the six-year period. While 285 elephants died of natural causes, the reasons for the death of 48 elephants have been marked as ‘death due to unknown and unnatural reasons.’
Interestingly, the report sent by the Department to the Central Government states that ‘only two elephants were hunted down by poachers in the 2009-10 period’.
Forest Department official Pradeep Kumar K I said that six elephants were electrocuted after they inadvertently came in contact with electric lines drawn in the forest, while others were deliberately electrocuted by farmers by erecting electric fences.
“A total of 15 elephants fell prey to contagious diseases, and three jumbos were fatally knocked down by speeding trains. Meanwhile, a rouge elephant was shot down by Forest Department officials after it wreaked havoc in human habitations in the 2010-11 period,” he said.
When asked whether any of the recent wildlife poaching incidents come under the category marked as ‘death of jumbos due to unknown and unnatural reasons’ the officials refused either to acknowledge or rule out the possibility.
A senior officer said the reasons for the death of those jumbos could not be established scientifically.
This assumes significance in the wake of the Forest Department’s decision to re-look into the mysterious death of pachyderms in the past few years, against the backdrop of the wildlife poaching incidents reported from the forests of the State.
So far, 44 ivory traders and poachers were arrested, and ivory artifacts of around 550 kg were seized from their custody.