5 killed by elephants in Jharkhand

Ranchi: A herd of rampaging elephants have killed five people in the last one week in Jharkhand's Pakur, Jamtara and Dumka districts, forest officials said on Tuesday.

The fifth person was trampled to death late on Monday in Pakur by the herd that has 22 elephants.

According to forest department officials, Amanuwal Hembrom, 30, a resident of Khhassa village was one of the members in a group that had been trying to chase the elephants away.

A mob on Tuesday blocked the national highway in Pakur demanding action and compensation.

The herd has been rampaging through the Santhal Pargana region.

They had first entered Jamtara district and trampled three people to death on different days. Later the herd entered Dumka where one person was trampled to death.

The herd also includes baby elephants, who have wrecked havoc -- standing crops and houses have been damaged by the herd, a forest official said.

In Jharkhand more than 700 people have been killed by elephant herds since the states creation in 2000.

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Elephants break structures in park at Guriguripal

A herd of 50 elephants rampaged through a four-acre park at Guriguripal on Saturday night, breaking boundary walls and damaging several structures, including slides and sitting arrangements.

The animals have been roaming in the jungles of West Midnapore’s Guriguripal, about 15km from Midnapore town, for the past six months.

The Bengal forest department maintains the 10-year-old park located between a thicket and cropland. The park has an artificial pond which attracted elephants in the past.

On Sunday morning, it was found that in addition to damaging the park, the elephants had also eaten or damaged most of the paddy on the farmland surrounding the park.

An official of Midnapore Sadar block administration said it would be risky to reconstruct the wall and other structures till the herd was driven away.

“Earlier, there were fewer elephants in the area but now, the herd has increased to about 50. So, we don’t want to take up repairs until the herd leaves the area,” said an official.

Rabindranath Saha, the divisional forest officer of Midnapore range, said: “The herd has increased in number over the past six months in the Midnapore Sadar block. Nine persons have been killed by elephants over the past six months in West Midnapore district. There is another herd that is roaming in the jungles of Kharagpur block about 40km away.”

A senior forester said the department was running short of manpower and was not in a position to tackle such a big herd.

“We are planning to enlist the help of our counterparts in Jaldapara in north Bengal. We will get a special type of gun that fires ‘chilli bombs’. These are used to drive away elephants,” the officer said.

Saha said in addition to Gurguripal, the 50-member marauding herd had caused scare in in the forest villages of Dumurkota, Junesole, Panjasole, Shukhnakhali, Gurabandi, Chandra and Pirakata also.

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Wild elephant kills young tribal in Tripura

Agartala: A wild elephant crushed a tribal youth to death on the spot in the deep jungles of Tripura, a northeastern Indian state.

Braja Sadhan Jamatia, 25, was crushed to death on June 20 morning at Hatipara near Maharani under Udaipur subdivision.

Jamtia had gone to the jungles in Hatipara to collect wood and wild herbals for consumption. Suddenly an elephant prowling in the area lifted him with its trunk and threw him down on the ground before smashing him to death with his foot.

This incident has triggered panic among villagers living near Hatipara as they fear rampaging herd of elephants. Sources in the forest department said that despite a drastic depletion in numbers the few elephants moving in herds pose a major menace to lives and properties.

“There are times when the elephant herds descend to the paddy fields and consume large quantities of paddy and other horticultural products besides destroying thatched and mud houses but this is the first killing after many years,” said a senior official of forest department from Udaipur.


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