Preservation of biodiversity with a focus on wildlife remains one of the priority areas for Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who understands the importance of maintaining a healthy ecosystem. His instructions to forest and wildlife officials in this regard are unambiguous: they must do it at any cost. But the job of these officials is being made difficult by poachers who continue to be active in different forest areas of the state.
The issue is back in focus with the sad news of the electrocution of a tusker in the jungles of Angul district. Forest officials have arrested a poacher who had laid a livewire to kill the animal. This is not a one-off case. Incidents of electrocution of elephants are on the rise in the state. The statistics are horrifying. At least 119 elephants have been electrocuted in Odisha in the last 12 years, most of them falling victim to sagging overhead wires.
Of these deaths, 24 occurred in 2018-19. The pachyderms have also been falling to the bullets of poachers and dying on rail tracks, run over by speeding trains. But it is electrocution deaths, caused mostly by low-hanging wires and sometimes by live wires laid deliberately on the ground with the intention of killing the animals, that remain in focus. This is perhaps the most bizarre and cruel way of snuffing life out of these gentle giants.
Accidental electrocutions are often the result of extreme carelessness on the part of authorities, a glaring example being the death of a herd of seven elephants, including a tusker, five females and a calf at Kamalanga village in Dhenkanal district in 2018. The incident took place barely 100 kms from the state capital when the herd came in contact with high-tension wires being drawn for the construction of a railway bridge at Kamlanga, about 5 kms from National Highway 55. The wires were hanging as low as just six feet from the ground whereas the mandatory height of such wires in areas known for the movement of elephants should be more than 17 feet above the ground.
Apparently, no one had taken the trouble of visiting the spot to verify whether the wires had been drawn properly in keeping with the norms. Such incidents can be easily avoided with a little caution on the part of the authorities who must follow the Chief Minister’s instructions for the preservation of wildlife.
Statistics show that at least 168 elephants have been electrocuted in the state in the last two decades, half of these being cases of deliberate electrocution, implying that either poachers or vengeful villagers whose crops had been destroyed by the pachyderms, laid traps using live wires to kill the animals. In the last 12 years, action has been taken against at least 148 people, including some forest and energy department officials in cases of electrocution of elephants. There is an urgent need for officials to show greater commitment towards protecting wildlife and stepping up the operation against poachers.
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