Keonjhar: In yet another instance of human-wildlife conflict, a herd of wild elephants wreaked havoc in Kandasara village under Sadar forest range of Keonjhar district late Saturday night.
The herd of four jumbos including two female elephants along with two calves entered human habitations from the nearby forest and destroyed acres of paddy along with other crops. Many houses were also damaged by the animals that came to the human settlement in search of food.
According to local villagers, the herd went on a rampage and ate away the paddy from the fields causing a huge loss to the locals.
On being informed, forest department officials rushed to the village and launched an operation to drive away the jumbos into the wild.
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 paucity of food and drinking water for elephants in the forest that compel them to head towards nearby villages. The animals destroy farmers’ standing crops and damage their houses. Sometimes, they kill human beings and their livestock.
Locals accuse the Forest Department of failing to thwart off jumbo threat despite spending crores of rupees in this regard.
PNN