jamshedpur the population of elephants at the dalma wildlife sanctuary dws has swelled to 82 thanks to the baby boom the number of baby elephants has increased to 16 this year according to the latest census figures compiled a few months ago besides the newborn the figure for male and female calves too has grown to 12 each the adult tusker and female elephant number 13 and 29 respectively the census shows a very healthy trend and reflects that we have been able to maintain the habitat says dws ranger r p singh the population of the pachyderms has dipped below 60 in the last census which the officials say was badly affected because of rains the population of elephants however has marginally grown from 79 in 1997 the highest figure 96 of pachyderms in dws famous as a favourite abode of the elephants was recorded in 1996 other than the elephants the population of wild bore too has increased to 64 this year from 49 in 1997 the population of barking deer also has doubled to 19 from eight in 1997 the number of bears has grown to 15 from 13 in 1997 there were 22 bears in the sanctuary in 1996 the wild bore and barking deer are the most commonly hunted animals during the annual hunting festival of the adivasis the census however shows a steep fall in the number of hyena found in the sanctuary the population of hyena has dwindled to three from 11 in 1997 and six in 1996 the pack of wolf also has shrunk to 11 from 30 in 1996 the baby boom wildlife expert here fear might increase the biotic pressure and escalate the conflict between the elephants and the human around the sanctuary the sanctuary is not only fragmented over a lakh people live in and around it elephants have trampled at least eight people in the last couple of years there have also been cases of pachyderms being killed by the villagers but the dws officials argue that the sanctuary spread across 200 square km area is big enough for at least 100 pachyderms to live the core area of the sanctuary is almost free of human interference the elephants venture out into the villages during the paddy season says n p deo assistant conservator meanwhile a 50yearold farmer loko majhi forest department sources said here on monday was trampled by a pachyderm in the manikui village under chandil block of west singhbhum district on sunday another man muchi ram singh sardar the sources said was killed in jaratola in nimdih block on saturday night