70 elephants died in Karnataka in 2021

• Karnataka, which harbours around 6,000 elephants in the wild as per the 2017 census, has lost 70 of them due to various reasons in 2021.

Causes of deaths:

• 15 were attributed to unnatural causes,
  • 10 due to electrocution.
  • One elephant in a train accident,
  • Another was shot,
  • one elephant died due to injuries caused by snares
  • The cause of death was not ascertained in one case.
• The remaining were classified as death due to natural causes.

Mortality Data:

• mortality details of elephants in the State that have been uploaded by the Forest Department.
• While the deaths due to natural causes are not reckoned to be worrying given the elephant population range in the State.
  • The deaths due to electrocution alone underline the prevailing human elephant conflict in the State.
  • the elephants were not targeted because the illegally powered fences installed by the farmers were meant to prevent wild boars though elephants do die in the process
• Location-mainly found in the southern parts

Prelims Takeaway:

• Elephant population distribution in india
• Elephant population Census