According to the WSO (Wildlife Society of Orissa), the elephant landscape in Odisha has gone through a dramatic change because of mindless mining & unplanned developmental activities.
Key Points:
According to WSO, the elephant panorama has changed dramatically in the final two decades.
In the Keonjhar district of Odisha, there had been 112 elephants in 2002. Now, it has only forty elephants due to large-scale mining.
In the last 20 days of July-August, five elephants had been deemed useless in the Keonjhar forest division.
Dhenkanal district had eighty-one elephants in 2002 which has multiplied to 169. Number of elephants are getting trapped in the Rengali Irrigation canals.
On similar lines, 70 elephants from the Chandaka sanctuary have abandoned the location and have migrated to Nayagarh, Ganjam and Cuttack districts. Many of them have been killed by means of trains or due to electrocution in Ganjam.