Lok Sabha Question No. 715 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-02-05
Subject: Deaths of Wild Animals
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Sougata Ray

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 715

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 05.02.2021

## Deaths of Wild Animals

## 715. PROF. SAUGATA RAY:

Will  the  Minister  of  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND  CLIMATE  CHANGE  be  pleased  to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  taken  note  of  death  of  a  large  number  of  wild  animals including elephants due to various reasons across the country;
- (b) if so, the number of wild animal deaths during the last three years, State/UT-wise;
- (c) whether the Government proposes to identify buffer zones around wildlife sanctuaries in the country;
- (d) if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) the other steps taken by the Government to prevent such deaths?

## ANSWER MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO)

- (a) and (b) The  management  of  forests  and  wildlife  is  primarily  the  responsibility  of  the concerned  State/UT  Governments.  The  Ministry  of  Environment,  Forest  and Climate Change does not maintain the data of death of wild animals. However, as per the available information, the number of tiger and elephant deaths during the last three years is given at Annexure-I and II .
- (c) and (d) The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change notifies Eco-Sensitive Zones  around  National  Parks  and  Sanctuaries,  under  the  provisions  of  the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 for protection of environment and biodiversity. Eco-sensitive Zones have been notified for 422 Wildlife Sanctuaries and National Parks by the Ministry.
- (e) The steps taken by the Government to  prevent such deaths are as follows:
- i. Ministry  provides  funds  through  its  Centrally  Sponsored  Schemes  (CSS) namely,  'Project  Tiger',  'Project  Elephant'  and  'Development  of  Wildlife Habitats (DWH)' to States/UTs for carrying out various activities for habitat improvement. These include restoration of natural water bodies, creation of artificial  ponds,  waterholes,  augmenting  food/fodder  sources  at  various places within Protected Areas.
- ii. A network of Protected Areas viz., National Parks, Sanctuaries, Conservation Reserves and Community Reserves covering important
- wildlife habitats has been created all over the country under the provisions of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 to conserve wild animals and their habitats.
- iii. Construction/erecting  of  physical  barriers  such  as  solar  powered  electric fence, bio-fencing using cactus, boundary wall etc. to prevent the entry of wild animals into crop field.
- iv. To mitigate wildlife conflict along the linear infrastructures like rail tracks, roads/highways and power transmission lines passing through the Protected Areas  and  other  wildlife  rich  areas,  the  Standing  Committee  of  National Board for Wildlife has recommended that all linear infrastructure development agencies should submit wild animal passage plans based on the guidelines prepared by Wildlife Institute of India for mitigating the impact of linear infrastructure on wildlife.
- v. The  recommendations  of  the  Task  Force  constituted  by  the  Ministry  for suggesting Eco-friendly measures to mitigate impacts of power transmission lines  and  other  power  transmission  infrastructures  on  wildlife  have  been circulated to all States/ Union Territory Administrations.
- vi. Ministry has issued advisory on mitigation of human elephant conflict to all the elephants range States.

****

## Annexure-I

## ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (A&B)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA  UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 715 DUE FOR REPLY ON 05.02.2021 REGARDING 'DEATHS OF WILD ANIMALS'.

| DETAILS OF TIGER MORTALITY 2018-2020   | DETAILS OF TIGER MORTALITY 2018-2020   | DETAILS OF TIGER MORTALITY 2018-2020   | DETAILS OF TIGER MORTALITY 2018-2020   | DETAILS OF TIGER MORTALITY 2018-2020   | DETAILS OF TIGER MORTALITY 2018-2020   | DETAILS OF TIGER MORTALITY 2018-2020   |
|----------------------------------------|----------------------------------------|----------------------------------------|----------------------------------------|----------------------------------------|----------------------------------------|----------------------------------------|
| State                                  | N                                      | UNP                                    | US                                     | P                                      | Seizure                                | Total                                  |
| Madhya Pradesh                         | 37                                     | 0                                      | 31                                     | 14                                     | 6                                      | 88                                     |
| Maharashtra                            | 18                                     | 4                                      | 17                                     | 11                                     | 5                                      | 55                                     |
| Karnataka                              | 17                                     | 1                                      | 9                                      | 8                                      | 4                                      | 39                                     |
| Uttarakhand                            | 13                                     | 0                                      | 3                                      | 3                                      | 0                                      | 19                                     |
| Tamil Nadu                             | 10                                     | 0                                      | 9                                      | 0                                      | 0                                      | 19                                     |
| Assam                                  | 0                                      | 0                                      | 8                                      | 0                                      | 4                                      | 12                                     |
| Kerala                                 | 5                                      | 0                                      | 10                                     | 1                                      | 0                                      | 16                                     |
| Uttar Pradesh                          | 2                                      | 1                                      | 11                                     | 4                                      | 1                                      | 19                                     |
| Rajasthan                              | 3                                      | 0                                      | 4                                      | 5                                      | 0                                      | 12                                     |
| Bihar                                  | 2                                      | 0                                      | 0                                      | 0                                      | 0                                      | 2                                      |
| Chhattisgarh                           | 0                                      | 0                                      | 1                                      | 0                                      | 2                                      | 3                                      |
| West Bengal                            | 0                                      | 0                                      | 0                                      | 2                                      | 2                                      | 4                                      |
| Odisha                                 | 0                                      | 0                                      | 0                                      | 2                                      | 0                                      | 2                                      |
| Andhra Pradesh                         | 1                                      | 1                                      | 1                                      | 1                                      | 0                                      | 4                                      |
| Telangana                              | 0                                      | 0                                      | 0                                      | 0                                      | 2                                      | 2                                      |
| Delhi                                  | 0                                      | 0                                      | 0                                      | 0                                      | 0                                      | 0                                      |
| Nagaland                               | 0                                      | 0                                      | 0                                      | 0                                      | 1                                      | 1                                      |
| Arunachal Pradesh                      | 0                                      | 0                                      | 0                                      | 0                                      | 0                                      | 0                                      |
| Haryana                                | 0                                      | 0                                      | 0                                      | 0                                      | 0                                      | 0                                      |
| Gujarat                                | 0                                      | 0                                      | 1                                      | 0                                      | 0                                      | 1                                      |
| Goa                                    | 0                                      | 0                                      | 0                                      | 4                                      | 0                                      | 4                                      |
| Jharkhand                              | 1                                      | 0                                      | 0                                      | 0                                      | 0                                      | 1                                      |
| Total                                  | 109                                    | 7                                      | 105                                    | 55                                     | 27                                     | 303                                    |

| Year   | N                                                                                                                        | UNP                                                                                                                      | US                                                                                                                       | P                                                                                                                        | Seizure                                                                                                                  | Total                                                                                                                    |
|--------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 2018   | 52                                                                                                                       | 4                                                                                                                        | 2                                                                                                                        | 33                                                                                                                       | 10                                                                                                                       | 101                                                                                                                      |
| 2019   | 44                                                                                                                       | 3                                                                                                                        | 24                                                                                                                       | 15                                                                                                                       | 10                                                                                                                       | 96                                                                                                                       |
| 2020   | 13                                                                                                                       | 0                                                                                                                        | 79                                                                                                                       | 7                                                                                                                        | 7                                                                                                                        | 106                                                                                                                      |
| Total  | 109                                                                                                                      | 7                                                                                                                        | 105                                                                                                                      | 55                                                                                                                       | 27                                                                                                                       | 303                                                                                                                      |
| N      | Natural                                                                                                                  | Natural                                                                                                                  | Natural                                                                                                                  | Natural                                                                                                                  | Natural                                                                                                                  | Natural                                                                                                                  |
| UNP    | Unnatural not attributed to poaching (includes tigers died due to accidents, tigers eliminated in conflicts events etc.) | Unnatural not attributed to poaching (includes tigers died due to accidents, tigers eliminated in conflicts events etc.) | Unnatural not attributed to poaching (includes tigers died due to accidents, tigers eliminated in conflicts events etc.) | Unnatural not attributed to poaching (includes tigers died due to accidents, tigers eliminated in conflicts events etc.) | Unnatural not attributed to poaching (includes tigers died due to accidents, tigers eliminated in conflicts events etc.) | Unnatural not attributed to poaching (includes tigers died due to accidents, tigers eliminated in conflicts events etc.) |
| US     | Under Scrutiny                                                                                                           | Under Scrutiny                                                                                                           | Under Scrutiny                                                                                                           | Under Scrutiny                                                                                                           | Under Scrutiny                                                                                                           | Under Scrutiny                                                                                                           |
| P      | Poaching                                                                                                                 | Poaching                                                                                                                 | Poaching                                                                                                                 | Poaching                                                                                                                 | Poaching                                                                                                                 | Poaching                                                                                                                 |

Annexure-II

## ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (A&B)  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA  UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 715 DUE FOR REPLY ON 05.02.2021 REGARDING 'DEATHS OF WILD ANIMALS'.

## Elephant deaths during the three year

| S. No.   | Zones   | State             | 2017-18   | 2018-19   |   2019-20 |   Total |
|----------|---------|-------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|---------|
| 1        | SZ      | Andhra Pradesh    | 0         | 2         |         5 |       7 |
| 2        | NE      | Arunachal Pradesh | NR        | 0         |         0 |       0 |
| 3        | NE      | Assam             | 44        | 19        |        13 |      76 |
| 4        | ER      | Chhattisgarh      | 2         | 6         |         2 |      10 |
| 5        | ER      | Jharkhand         | 2         | 2         |         7 |      11 |
| 6        | SZ      | Karnataka         | 12        | 11        |         8 |      31 |
| 7        | SZ      | Kerala            | 4         | 8         |         8 |      20 |
| 8        | SZ      | Maharashtra       | 0         | 0         |         0 |       0 |
| 9        | NE      | Meghalaya         | 3         | 1         |         9 |      13 |
| 10       | NE      | Nagaland          | 1         | 4         |         2 |       7 |
| 11       | ER      | Odisha            | 14        | 33        |        13 |      60 |
| 12       | SZ      | Tamil Nadu        | 11        | 11        |        15 |      37 |
| 13       | NE      | Tripura           | 0         | NR        |         0 |       0 |
| 14       | NZ      | Uttar Pradesh     | 0         | 3         |         0 |       3 |
| 15       | NZ      | Uttarakhand       | 8         | 5         |         0 |      13 |
| 16       | NE      | West Bengal       | 4         | 10        |        10 |      24 |
|          |         | Total             | 105       | 115       |        92 |     312 |