Indian state loses nearly 300 elephants

India's Odisha state lost at least 296 elephants in the past five years, several victims of electrocution, officials said. State authorities and wildlife activists said the elephants died after coming in contact with hanging, live electricity wires, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. Wildlife activist Biswajit Mohanty said the casualty rate has been about 10 per year. Hindus consider elephants sacred and worship them during religious festivals. However, increasingly the majestic animals are losing their habitats with rising human population and encroachment. India currently has about 26,000 elephants in the wild, the BBC reported. The PTI report said other causes of elephant deaths in Odisha in the past five years have included poaching, accidents such as the animals being hit by speeding trains and diseases. To prevent electrocution of elephants, a joint committee of experts from forest, environment and energy departments has been set up, Odisha's environment secretary R.K. Sharma told PTI. "It will hold at least one meeting every month," he said. In another shocking report, the Asian Age last month quoted India's National Tiger Conservation Authority that tiger deaths are on the rise, with 69 of them lost in the past nine months. "While 41 tigers were killed due to poaching or in road-hits and other accidents, the other 28 were natural deaths," said NTCA assistant inspector-general Rajiv Sharma told the newspaper. The report said with the latest deaths, India's tiger count has dropped to 1,706. India Forest and Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan urged state authorities to notify critical wildlife habitats and corridors including elephant corridors. "These areas will then become legal entities and there will be no scope for their destruction," she said. "I will make sure that habitats and corridors of wildlife are well protected and local people are part of the conservation.