Kerala, Karnataka lead in reducing human casualties from elephant attacks: Report
Hubballi: Karnataka and Kerala, two states that collectively house around 40% of India’s wild elephant population, have made notable efforts in preventing human casualties from elephant attacks.
Over the past five years, Karnataka recorded 160 human deaths due to elephant attacks, while Kerala lost 102 lives. Both states together host a combined total of 11,755 wild elephants out of the 29,964 wild jumbos in India as per the 2017 Elephant census, as reported by Deccan Herald on Thursday.
When standardised, every 100 elephants killed 2.6 humans in Karnataka, while in Kerala, the figure was lower at 1.78 deaths. In stark contrast, the national average stands at 9.44 human fatalities per 100 elephants.
Experts suggested that combination of habitat consolidation and the use of modern technology has contributed to the comparatively low number of human deaths in these two states.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had stated that between 2019 and 2024, wild elephants killed 2,829 humans. During the same period, India lost 528 elephants due to unnatural reasons including electrocution, run over by trains, poisoning and others, the report added.
State-wise, Odisha, which has a population of 1,976 elephants, reported the highest human death toll—624 lives lost to elephant attacks. Other states with significant fatalities include Jharkhand (474 deaths from 679 elephants), West Bengal (436 deaths from 194 elephants), and Assam (383 deaths from 5,719 elephants).
Government documents, cited by DH, revealed that West Bengal has the highest mortality rate when adjusted for elephant population size. In West Bengal, every 100 elephants are responsible for 224.74 human deaths. Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra follow closely behind with rates of 122.67 and 133.33 fatalities per 100 elephants, respectively.
Raman Sukumar, the former chairman of the Karnataka Elephant Task Force, attributed the relatively lower human casualties in Karnataka and Kerala to well-managed habitats and connectivity. He noted that states like West Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand are witnessing higher human fatalities due to habitat fragmentation, range expansion and dispersing of elephants to newer habitats.
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Illegal sand mining has created environmental crisis in National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary: SC
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Friday said rampant illegal riverbed sand mining has created an "environmental crisis" and wreaked "havoc" in the National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary, causing a grave risk to the gharial (long-snouted crocodile) preservation project.
Slamming the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh for their utter failure in dealing with the issue, the apex court directed them to install high-resolution Wi-Fi-enabled CCTV cameras along all routes frequently used for illegal sand mining in the area.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta directed that live feed of such surveillance cameras shall be placed under the direct control, supervision and operational oversight of the superintendent of police or the senior superintendent of police of the concerned district and the divisional forest officer.
It said these officers shall ensure continuous and effective monitoring of the CCTV feeds by designating appropriate officers.
"It can't be gainsaid that the issues involved are of great concern in as much as the rampant illegal mining activities in the river bed have created an environmental crisis and havoc in the National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary causing a grave risk to the very project of gharial preservation of which the state governments themselves were proponents and were under an obligation to foster and promote," Justice Mehta said while pronouncing the order.
The bench directed the authorities in these three states to initiate prompt and necessary action under law if any instance of illegal mining or allied activities comes to light.
It said the authorities shall ensure seizure of vehicles or machinery found involved in illegal sand mining and also initiate prosecution of persons involved in it.
The bench, which passed several other directions, posted the matter for hearing on May 11.
The top court passed the order in a suo motu case titled 'In Re: Illegal sand mining in the National Chambal Sanctuary and threat to endangered aquatic wildlife'.
The National Chambal Sanctuary, also called the National Chambal Gharial Wildlife Sanctuary, is a 5,400-sq km tri-state protected area.
Besides the endangered gharial, it is home to the red-crowned roof turtle and the endangered Ganges river Dolphin.
Located on the Chambal river near the tripoint of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, the sanctuary was first declared a protected area in Madhya Pradesh in 1978 and now constitutes a long and narrow eco-reserve co-administered by the three states.
On March 13, the top court took suo motu cognisance of news reports about rampant illegal sand mining on the banks of the Chambal river.
