Calcutta, July 21: Devastation of their natural habitat is pushing elephants out of forests and closer to human settlements, where the combination of their strong sense of smell and a penchant for liquor are turning them into marauders.

Elephants in search of local brew have claimed the lives of 219 persons since March while passing through villages in West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura districts, triggering a culling spree in which 52 elephants have been felled.

The losses are high on both sides in the human-animal conflict, according to Kishor Chaudhuri, fellow of the Royal Geographical Society of London.

“Parts of south Bengal are the traditional monsoon home ranges for the east Indian elephants, alcoholics by habit, migrating from the Dalma wildlife sanctuary in Jharkhand,” he said here today.

Chaudhuri recently conducted a bio-geographical study of the elephants’ movement with the support of the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the forest departments of Bengal and Jharkhand.

“The keen sense of smell the largest terrestrial mammal possesses leads it to densely populated areas, mostly in tribal belts, resulting in 80-90 per cent of human deaths in elephant encounters,” he said.

The vegetation and topography of Orissa and Jharkhand, prime elephant habitats previously, were altered after the governments encouraged mining projects. This radically changed the nature of elephant movements, forcing them towards the natural forests in southern Bengal which resemble conditions in the Dalma hills.

The elephants from Dalma make an annual 50-km trek through the western border of Bengal to ensure that their original home is replenished. Of the 192 sq. ft area of the reserve, the core area consists of only 50 sq. ft, which is home to about 70 elephants. An elephant feeds on about 250 kg of greens daily and naturally needs to migrate to fresh feeding grounds to survive, Chaudhuri said.