Wild elephants enter Chhattisgarh village, tribals seek help

The Hindu
February 2, 2009

Raipur (IANS): A herd of wild elephants entered a forested village in Chhattisgarh early Monday and frightened tribals have now sought urgent help from forest department officials to drive the animals away before they cause any harm, officials said.
The nine elephants that have entered Labji village, some 400 km from here, have demolished dozens of houses in the past week in different villages of the state's northern Surguja district, a forest official said.
A forest official said his department would provide full cooperation to the villagers. The tribals say they will migrate to safer areas if immediate assistance is not offered to them.
Dozens of villages in Surguja, Jashpur, Koria, Korba and Raigarh districts in northern Chhattisgarh have been affected by elephant attacks for more than a decade.
Attacks on humans by elephants have increased since 2005 and dozens of people have been killed. Officials said encroachment by people into the elephant habitat has caused more conflicts.