Cuttack: Wild Orissa wants elephant habitats to be declared as ecologically sensitive areas to address serious conservation challenges jumbos face in the state.

According to Wild Orissa, an organisation engaged in conservation of wild elephants, the number of jumbos in the state is approximately 74 per cent of the total count in eastern India.

Wild Orissa chief spokesperson Kulamani Deo said reduction in man-elephant conflict, and deaths due to poaching and retaliatory killings were crucial to conservation of jumbos.

"Some of the crucial and visible habitat threats include mining activities, illicit felling of trees, irrigation projects, roads and railway lines, industrial development, forest fire, growing number of cattle grazing in prime elephant territory," Deo said. Three elephant reserves - Mayurbhanj, Mahanadi and Sambalpur - were notified in 2001 and 2002 to define their prime habitats and launch various management interventions for jumbo conservation. "As reserves offered hope to rejuvenate some of the fragmented habitats, there is an immediate need to enlarge the areas in the state", Deo said.

A forest department official said the government was weighing options to expand Mahanadi and Sambalpur reserves and constitute two new ones. He said the reserves would ne named Brahmani-Baitarani and South Odisha.

Elephants are big migratory animals and cover long distances in search of food. According to Wild Orissa, habitat loss, expansion of human habitation and fragmentation of traditional elephant corridors have forced jumbos to split into a number of herds and move to new areas in search of food and shelter.

"As a result of this, the interface between elephant and man has increased manifold. This results in conflicts with humans as elephants move into human habitation and destroys crops. Villagers often retaliate by killing elephants either by electrocution or poisoning," Deo said.

He said Wild Orissa had been invited to participate in a signature campaign, 'Gaj Yatra', aimed at raising the profile of the Asian elephant in New Delhi on August 12.

"This unique event will bring together policy makers, industry leaders, eminent conservationists, personalities from the fields of entertainment, sports, art and culture, citizens and schoolchildren", Deo said.