Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: Insofar as unnatural death is concerned, Assam is second in the case of elephants and third in the case of tigers in the past three years. Statistics from the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change revealed this fact.
According to the statistics, as many as 55 elephants died unnaturally in Assam in the past three years – 19 in 2022-23, 15 in 2023-24 and 21 in 2024-25. In other states in the Northeast, one elephant died unnaturally in the past three years in Arunachal Pradesh, nine in Meghalaya, three in Nagaland, and three in Tripura.
Odisha topped the list with 100 unnatural deaths of elephants in the past three years. The country as a whole registered the unnatural death of 388 elephants in the past three years.
In the past three years, seven tigers have died unnaturally in Assam. Madhya Pradesh topped the list with the unnatural deaths of 19 tigers in the past three years. Next to Madhya Pradesh is Maharashtra, where 11 tigers died unnaturally in the past three years.
As many as 66 tigers died unnaturally in the past three years in the country.
According to the Union Ministry, protection and management of wildlife and its habitats is primarily the responsibility of the state governments and union territory administrations. The various measures taken by the government to prevent such incidents are (i) a network of protected areas like national parks, sanctuaries, conservation reserves and community reserves covering important wildlife habitats created all over the country under the provisions of the Wildlife(Protection) Act, 1972.
(ii) The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, provides for punishment for violation of its provisions. The Act also provides for forfeiture of any equipment, vehicle or weapon that is used for committing wildlife offences.
(iii) The Ministry has issued guidelines on eco-friendly measures to mitigate the impact of linear infrastructure in order to assist project agencies in designing linear infrastructure, including electric transmission lines, in a manner that reduces human-animal conflict.
The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) has been set up to gather intelligence about poaching and unlawful trade in wild animals and animal articles and to achieve interstate and transboundary coordination in the enforcement of wildlife laws. WCCB has issued advisories to States/UTs to prevent the death/poaching of wild animals due to electrocution.
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