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Number of elephants poached rose last year: Govt in Parliament
There were 27 cases of ivory seizures in 2019, followed by 21 in 2020 and 42 in 2021, according information provided by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau.
At least 14 elephants were killed by poachers in 2020-21 compared to nine in the previous year and seizures of ivory doubled in the same period, the environment ministry said in Parliament on Monday.
There were 27 cases of ivory seizures in 2019, followed by 21 in 2020 and 42 in 2021, according information provided by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau.
In 2020-21, there were 14 elephant deaths by poaching, compared to nine in 2019-20 and six in 2018-19, junior environment minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey said in a written response to a question by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Shrikant Eknath Shinde, Apurupa Poddar and others in the Lok Sabha.
The minister, however, did not provide details of how much the seizures during this period.
The MPs wanted to know the details of ivory smuggling, poaching of male elephants, the gender ratio of the country’s elephant population, and whether it has been skewed by selective killing of tuskers.
Out of the 14 elephants that were poached in 2020-21, seven were killed in Meghalaya; two each in Nagaland, Odisha and Tamil Nadu; and one in Kerala. In 2019-20, four elephants were killed in Meghalaya; three in Odisha; and one each in Kerala and Jharkhand.
“The data regarding gender ratio of Asian elephant is not collated in Project Elephant Division of the Ministry,” the response read.
The environment ministry provides financial and technical assistance to provincial governments through centrally sponsored schemes such as Project Elephant for protection and conservation of elephants and their habitats in the country including patrolling duties, and reward to informers on information on sale or smuggling of ivory.
“We are aware that the cases of poaching are high in Meghalaya. We have issued advisories to the state government also on a regular basis,” an environment ministry official said, seeking anonymity.
India will start a new elephant census this year by using DNA analysis of dung samples, camera trapping and statistical modelling, following a process similar to that used in the quadrennial tiger count. India already has an elephant census, but it is largely a headcount of elephants in various habitats conducted by state forest departments. The last one was carried out in 2017 that showed India has at least 27,000 pachyderms.
“There is huge demand from China for a number of wildlife products. They may be sourcing ivory and other elephant parts as well. Northeastern states may be vulnerable to such illegal trade,” R Sukumar, an ecologist specialising in elephants, said.
