According to IUCN SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group (AsESG) reported in August 2021, there are now only about 48,000-50,000 Asian Elephants found in 13 range states. More than 60% of the wild population exists in India alone. Only four other countries – Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar and Sri Lanka – have more than 2,000 wild elephants. A recent study suggested that almost 42% of the presently available habitat will be lost due to the combined effects of human pressure and climate change.

The need to link fragmented habitats through corridors for movement remains a key challenge for Asian Elephant conservation. The other key challenge is increasing human-elephant conflict.

India alone accounts for more than 400 human deaths and more than 100 elephant deaths annually due to conflict. Conflict is also growing in other Asian countries that still have sizeable elephant populations, due to reduced quality habitats. The confluence of these threats makes the already endangered Asian Elephant even more vulnerable in the long term.

While cultural and religious associations with the Asian Elephant still allow some populations to thrive in South Asia and parts of Southeast Asia, the species is in critical danger in Vietnam and Sumatra (Indonesia).

The Forest Department attributes electrocution, aging, and slipping and falling from hills to most Asian elephant deaths in Bangladesh. And there are poachers as well.

According to a study by the Forest Department and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), there are around 250-300 Asian elephants living in the country’s forests. Two-thirds of them live in Cox’s Bazar and the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), and the rest in Sherpur border areas.