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Hungry elephants on the rampage in Orissa

Debi Pattnaik in Bhubaneswar

With almost the entire vegetation in the Chandaka Elephant Sanctuary destroyed in the super cyclone that lashed coastal Orissa recently, several herds of elephants are now scouring neighbouring villages in search of food.

The super cyclone, which wreaked havoc in the state for over 36 hours with wind speeds reaching over 250 kilometre per hour, uprooted almost every single bamboo tree in the 189 square kilometre sanctuary.

Reports of elephant herds entering villages have started pouring in from as many as 10 villages located on the periphery of the elephant reserve. The 70-kilometre-long wire fencing around the sanctuary is broken at several places making it easy for elephants to venture out.

Villagers of Mendhasal, Giringaput, Jamujhari, Malipada, Daspur, Kuji Mahal and Gangpatna have sought urgent help from forest officials.

A senior officer said though they could chase the pachyderms back into the forest, it would be almost impossible to prevent them from venturing out again.

One attempt to push these elephants back into the forest backfired when the animals escaped into the Bharatpur reserve forest.

Officials said the elephants could further migrate to nearby human settlements in search of food.

The wildlife officials are now keeping a close watch on their movements and so are the villagers.

Last week about 200 villagers held demonstrations at the Chandaka division office demanding adequate protection from the rampaging elephants.

UNI

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