Odisha is facing a severe human-animal conflict crisis, with over 500 deaths and thousands of injuries reported in the last three years due to escalating wild animal attacks, prompting urgent calls for effective mitigation strategies and wildlife conservation efforts.
A total of 523 people have lost their lives and 1,391 were injured in attacks by wild animals, including elephants, in Odisha over the past three years, Forest Environment & Climate Change Minister Ganesh Ram Singkhuntia told the Assembly on Tuesday.
Replying to a written query by BJP legislator Padmalochan Panda, the minister said 175 people were killed, and 408 others were injured by wild animals in different forest divisions of Odisha during the financial year 2022-23, while such death and injury figures rose to 186 and 445 during 2023-24, respectively.
Similarly, wild animals have killed 164 people and injured 538 individuals in the state during the fiscal 2024-25, he said.
As per the data submitted by the Forest minister, 92 people have lost their lives in conflict with wild animals in Dhenkanal forest division, while 54 such deaths were reported in Angul forest division during the three years.
The other forest divisions which reported higher numbers of deaths due to wild animal attacks include - Keonjhar (52), Baripada (36), Sambalpur (34), and Bonai (33). Notably, Odisha has 43 forest divisions.
Similarly, a maximum of 155 people were injured in human-animal conflicts in Keonjhar forest division, followed by Dhenkanal forest division (113), Khurda (87), Redhakhol (77), Khariar (66) and Deogarh (65), he stated.
Further, Singkhuntia said that the death of 264 wild animals reported in the state during the three years, of which 132 died for unnatural reasons.
During the period, four royal Bengal tigers, 25 leopards and 1426 other wild animals were killed in different forest areas of Odisha, of which, 447 were killed by poachers, he added.