70 elephants died of various causes in Karnataka in 2021

Of these, 15 have been attributed to unnatural causes

MYSURU

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

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

This is evident in the mortality details of elephants in the State that has been uploaded by the Forest Department and is akin to tiger mortality figures uploaded by the National Tiger Conservation Authority.

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 underlines the prevailing human-elephant conflict in the State.

In Karnataka, elephants are mainly found in the southern parts and 36 of them have died in Chamarajanagar circle, while there were 12 deaths in Mysuru, 10 in Kodagu, 7 in Bengaluru, 4 in Hassan, and 1 in Chikkamagaluru circle, according to authorities.

Saswathi Mishra, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) and in charge of Project Elephant, said the mortality figures were normal given the elephant population range and the deaths owing to natural causes were mainly due to old age, infection or injuries incurred during infighting.