Angul: A herd of 32 elephants wreaked havoc in villages near Bantala forest range of Angul district Thursday night causing panic among local residents. The wild herd strayed into villages and destroyed acres of paddy and vegetable cultivation.
Sources said, the herd stays in the forest near Jamugadia village during day time and comes into human habitation at night. The herd has so far destroyed crops on large tracts of agriculture lands leaving farmers distressed.
Besides, several houses were also damaged by the animals. The increasing frequency of their forage into villages here has become a cause of concern among locals.
The forest officials have been entrusted with the responsibility of reducing man-animal conflicts by creating awareness among people to be friendly towards wildlife.
Despite all this, reports pour in almost every week about elephants straying into villages in search of food and water. It is an established fact that there is a scarcity of food and drinking water for elephants in the forest that compel them to head towards nearby villages. The animals destroy standing crops and damage their houses. Sometimes, they kill human beings and their livestock as well.
Locals accused the Forest Department of failing to thwart off the jumbo menace despite spending crores of rupees in this regard. Meanwhile, the locals have lost their sleep as the elephants continue to terrorise them on a regular basis.
PNN