A total of 698 elephants, 48 leopards and seven royal Bengal tigers died in the period between 2015-16 and September 25, 2023. Forest and Environment Minister Pradip Amat said this in the Odisha Assembly on Tuesday.
Amat said this while responding to an unstarred question asked by MLA Prafulla Samal.
He informed the House that the elephants and the big cats died due to several reasons including diseases, electrocution, train accidents, road accidents, poaching and poisoning.
MLA Samal also wished to know about the steps taken to reduce the deaths of the animals.
In his reply, the Minister said their natural habitats have been strengthened, a large number of elephant foder plants have been planted and pasture grounds have been developed. Besides, artificial ponds have also been dug up and steps have been taken to tackle wildfire and poaching, he said.
At the same time, Congress MLA Taraprasad Bahinipati also wanted to know how many people have so far died due to man-elephant conflicts.
Responding to his question, Minister Amat said a total of 602 people were killed in elephant attacks in the last five years. During the same period, the elephants killed 127 domestic animals and pulled down 611 houses, Amat added.