Monday, December 11, 2017

Elephants damage crops in Sundargarh

Rourkela: A big herd of elephants has become a cause of headache for the forest department and the villagers in the interior areas of Sundargarh district.

The herd is trying to push into the thickly populated Rourkela division. Sometimes it comes as close as Rajgangpur border. However, these animals have been driven far from the areas of human settlement as the forest department and villagers are on high alert.

"There are more than 60 elephants of various sizes in the herd and the herd is one of the biggest," said Sundargarh divisional forest officer Arun Kumar Mishra. The herd is from the Jharsughda division. It managed to sneak through Bamra range and is causing havoc in Kutra and its nearby areas, the forest official said.

The herd is roaming around the area for the past one month. It is eating away the vegetables grown in the Bamra, Kutra and Badgaon regions. "Since these animals are been driven away by the villagers there, they sneaked into our range near Kutra. At present it is roaming in our area," Mishra said.

The problem for the forest department is that the jumbos unite despite getting separated during drives. "They are very clever and have good memory so once they are separated they again comeback to maintain the size of the herd," said Libnus Kerketta, a ward member. On Thursday, they attacked the farmhouse of one Dinesh Ekka, and ruined the entire plantation of banana and papaya. Besides, they also finished the paddy and cow feed kept in his farmhouse. "The size of the herd is so massive, the villagers who are involved in drives are getting scared," Kerketta said.

Mishra further said they were planning a massive drive in a day or two to drive the herd away. "Fortunately so far there is no human loss only crops and vegetables have been damaged, but the villagers are very angry."

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