Wild elephants continue depredation in Orissa

Baripada, June 26 (UNI) Depredations by the wild elephants frequently straying from Jharkhand and entering Mayurbhanj district has caused widespread discontentment among the locals.

A migrant bull elephant from Jharkhand trampled one Ramesh Chandra Nayak(45), a tribal of Badadeuli village under Karanjia block of Mayurbhanj on Saturday last, forest officials said.

The villager had gone into the forests for collecting wild mushrooms when the pachyderm attacked, locals said.

This was the second incident of death due to elephant attack within the last one month.

In another incident of man-elephant conflict, Hara Nayak (55), a tribal of Kajala village, under Jashipur block, was similarly trampled to death by a bull elephant on June 7.

Meanwhile, residents of several villages under Raruan block, namely Raruan, Angarpada, Jhumkapal, Bhanjabeda and Mendhamundi were having sleepless nights due to depredations caused by a herd of wild elephant that strayed into the areas from Jharkhand.

Raruan block congress committee Vice-President Sisir Kumar Bhanj Deo has demanded that urgent steps be taken by the forest department to chase away the animals.

Simlipal Tiger Reserve(STR) Field Director Cum-Conservator of Forests Debabrata Swain today said that the pet elephant squad from Simlipal comprising a bull elephant and two cow elephants have been deployed yesterday to locate their wild kins from Jharkhand and scientifically drive them back to their habitat.

The ''driving operation'' is being conducted under the leadership of Purna Chandra Das, an expert Mahout brought from the Manas Tiger Reserve of Assam and assisted by the local mahouts, the Field Director further pointed out.

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