Bhubaneswar: Four tigers, 430 elephants and 31 leopards were among 2,817 wild animals that died in Odisha during the last five years, Forest Minister Pradip Kumar Amat said Tuesday, noting that 40 per cent of posts in his department were also lying vacant.
Replying to a question by BJP member Kusum Tete, Amat told the assembly that these deaths, which happened between 2018-19 and 2022-23, were caused by various reasons, including diseases, electrocution, rail and road accidents, poaching and poisoning.
While 639 wild animals died in 2018-19, 475 died in 2019-20 and 586 died in 2020-21. The state recorded 532 deaths in 2021-22, and 585 deaths in 2022-23, he said in a written reply.
The highest number of animals died in Dhenkanal forest division at 231, followed by Chilika wildlife division (220) and Athagarh forest division (155), he added.
Replying to another question, Amat said that of the total 12,621 sanctioned posts in the Forest Department, 5,058 are lying vacant, which is 40.07 per cent.
There are 210 vacant posts in Group-A, 410 in Group-B, 4,001 in Group-C and 437 in Group-D, he said.
PTI