Ranchi, May 25 : The elephant population is gradually declining in Jharkhand in last 16 years in Jharkhand.
When Jharkhand was carved out from Bihar the elephant population in 2002 was 772 which declined to 624 in 2007 and now this year count says that the elephants population is just 588. In 2012 elephant population had increased from 624 to 688.
The elephants counting took place in second week of this month. There are six regions of the state as per forest department in the state. In Palamau Tiger Reserve area the elephant population has declined from 238 to 186. In Dalma century the elephants population has declined from 156 to 46. In other regions the elephant population has either increased or declined slightly.
The forest officials say that there could be many reason for declining population of elephants.
“ The death of elephants and migration are two important reason of decline in the population. Some elephants died in natural way and some died due electrocution, hit by running train or killed due to conflict with human beings. In Jharkhand more than 160 elephants have died after creation of the state due to above mentioned reason” said a senior forest official.
As many as 32 pachyderms have died due to electrocution and 22 elephants were killed in train accidents. Besides electrocution, poaching, poisoning and age factor are reason of the deaths of the elephants.
The forest official also said that the elephants keep migrating from one place to another place. “ There is elephant movement track. They keep mobbing from Jharkhand to Odisha, Chhattisgarh and other neighboring states”.