430 elephants died in Odisha due to several reasons in last 5 years: Forest Minister

Bhubaneswar: As many as 430 elephants, four Royal Bengal Tigers, 31 leopards and 2,352 other animals died in Odisha due to several reasons in the last five years between FY 2018-19 and FY 2022-23. This was informed today by Forest, Environment and Climate Change Minister Pradip Kumar Amat.

Replying to an unstarred question of Sundargarh BJP MLA Kusum Tete, the Minister said, “The deaths were due to diseases, electrocution, train accidents, road mishaps, haunting and poisoning etc.”

Besides, out of a total of 12,621 approved posts in the Forest department, at least 5,058 posts are lying vacant (which comes to roughly 40 per cent), the Forest Minister stated in his written reply to another question raised by Salipur BJD MLA Prasanta Behera, during Winter Session of the Legislative Assembly.

It is pertinent to mention here that four Royal Bengal Tigers died in Odisha in two years.