Bhubaneswar, Feb. 10: As many as 354 elephants have died in various parts of the state in the past five years, forest and environment minister Bikram Keshari Arukh revealed this in a written reply in the Assembly today.

The highest number of elephant death was reported in 2010-11 and 2012-13. While 51 deaths were reported in 2009-10, the number of casualties was 83 in 2010-11, 68 in 2011-12, 82 in 2012-13 and 70 in 2013-14. Some of the jumbos were killed in accidents, whereas some died of diseases. Some also had natural deaths. However, reasons for many deaths are yet to be ascertained.

Apart from elephants, others animals, which were killed in large numbers in the state, include barking deer, spotted deer, black buck, crocodile, wild bear and sloth bear.

The minister also said the number of tigers had come down in the state according to the report of the National Tiger Conservation Authority. "However, the final results are awaited," he said.

Earlier, the survey conducted by the authority put the number oftigersin the state at 28, an alarming drop considering that Odisha had counted 192 of these predators in 2004. In 2009, the number of tigers was 32.

The state had earlier expressed reservations against the camera trap method adopted by the Centre for counting the striped animals. The state used to follow the pugmark method for tiger census till 2004, but the Centre introduced the camera trap technique in 2006, asserting that it was more reliable.

Now, more than 200 cameras in the forests are constantly monitoring the movement of animals. The state government is of the view that the number oftigersin the state should not be less than 40 to 45.

The government today said the census of animals in most of the cases would be held in February and March, which would give a clearer picture.

However, the state government claimed that state's area under forest cover had increased over the years.

According to the report, Odisha, which had 48,855sqkm of forest earlier, now has 50,346sqkm of forest.