According to reports, the pachyderm was first spotted in Dhauli area on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar. It triggered panic at Pipili during the day, but reached Dhauli at midnight around 12:30am.
The tusker walked towards Garage Chhak from where it went to Lingaraj Temple area. Later, the tusker again walked towards Sundarpada area.
Over 60 officials of the forest department along with the local police monitored the movement of the tusker and warned people against stepping out of their houses through loudspeakers.
The tusker later crossed Sundarpada railway tracks and moved towards Pokhariput.
Speaking to OTV, a senior forest official said, “We are monitoring the movement of the tusker now. It was in Pipili and has strayed into the city. Efforts are on to drive it back into the wilds.”
Similarly, the ACF said, “The tusker was in Puri and has strayed into the Capital. It passed through Lingaraj Temple and reached Pokhariput area. Efforts are on to drive it towards a natural habitat. We cannot deny the fact that pachyderms have started coming towards the city, but we are helpless.”
The forest officials finally heaved a sigh of relief after the wild animal was tranquilised at Aiginia this morning.
(Reported by Alok Mohanty, OTV)
As per sources, the incident occurred when Nirupama had gone for a walk early in the morning.
Soon after the incident, irate locals staged a road blockade at Bhalumunda chhak by burning tyres and demanded compensation for the kin of the deceased.
The locals further alleged that even after repeated pleas, no steps have been taken by the administration to lessen the elephant menace in the region.
On receiving information, Parjang police along with the forest officials reached the spot and pacified the agitating locals following which the road blockade was withdrawn.
Meanwhile, forest officials informed that the department has launched an operation to drive away the jumbo from the human habitation back to the forests.
In another similar incident last month, an elderly man was killed in an elephant attack at Palasahi under Mahabiroad range in the Parajang area. Sources said the pachyderms have been wreaking havoc in the nearby areas by destroying hundreds of acres of agricultural fields and damaging vast stretch of standing crops during the harvest season.
As per reports, Nayak was returning home from the market in his bicycle when he was attacked by the elephant.
A few eyewitnesses claimed that the jumbo first threw Nayak off his bicycle and then trampled him. Following the mishap, Nayak was rushed to the Keonjhar District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) in a serious condition. Later, doctors at the hospital declared him dead.
It is pertinent to mention that several cases of man-animal conflict have come to the fore in the recent past.
Earlier in August, a minor boy was trampled by wild elephants in Sundergarh while several houses and crops were destroyed in Kalahandi district.
In another incident, a woman had died in an elephant attack at Mahisalanda village in Choudwar of Cuttack district.
The deceased have been identified as Niranjan Mohanty of Damodarnali village under Gandia police limits and Achyuta Rout of Chaulia village in the district.
Mohanty who had gone out into the field to relieve himself, was attacked by a herd of elephants. He died on the spot.
Tension ran high in the area following the incident as infuriated locals staged demonstration demanding compensation for Mohanty's family.
Rout, too met the same fate when he had gone outdoors to attend nature's call. The elephants attacked him and trampled him to death.
Forest officials who rushed to the spot confirmed the movement of a herd of 53 jumbos in the area since the last few days. Efforts are on to chase away the pachyderms from human habitations, the officials informed.
Around eight jumbos stood ground on the NH at Bali Baula square near Athgarh in Cuttack district. The animals inhabit in Baula Reserve Forest under Khuntuni range within Athagarh forest division, forest officials said. They were forced to come out of the forest due to sweltering heat and took shelter under the mango trees on the both side of the highway, they added.
Hundreds of vehicles stood on either side of the road as the animals moved on the road. Some locals informed the forest officials who rushed to the spot and drove away the elephants.
A similar incident was witnessed at the same spot on April 13 after a herd of 18 elephants blocked the NH for around an hour. Later, they had barged into the premises of nearest Sri Sri Dhabaleswar (SSD) College by breaking its boundary wall and wreaked havoc.
Sources said due to rampant felling of big trees by wood mafia, the canopy of the local forest has been decreasing leaving little comfortable environment for wild animals.
At least 10 refugees, including young children, have been killed in such incidents at the Kutupalong Rohingya refugee camp, bdnews24.com reported.
The camp located along the migratory route between Myanmar and Bangladesh is used by the critically endangered Asian elephants, the UNHCR said in a statement on Friday.
The "tusk force" will install watch-towers at key lookout points around the settlement and organise an Elephant Response Team to raise an alarm if elephants enter the camp.
The programme will also set up elephant routes and corridors so refugees know what areas to avoid during an incident. It will also implement an awareness campaign regarding the risks.
The project is part of wider initiatives by the organisations to mitigate the environmental impact of the refugee camps in Cox's Bazar.
The herd of 45 elephants including four tuskers and five calves on their way to Nilagiri forest caused extensive damage to the standing vegetable and paddy crops in Badasole, Bhatachhatara village under Rasogovindapur forest range, Baripada divisional forest officer Sanjay Kumar Swain said.
Traversing about 25 km the herd has advanced to Asanabani village forest under Betanati block as reported yesterday. However, no casualty was reported on human lives, he added.
Considering the situation 120 forest personnel were being deployed along with two tamed horses to tackle the jumbo menace, DFO mentioned.
The bid to whisk away the large herd of jumbos before entry to the territory of Mayurbhanj district by the forest personnel yielded no result, the DFO lamented.
However identified villages such as Dalaki, Nadapur were put on high alert where the villagers were warned through announcement by loud speakers and advised to remove the harvest of the standing crop before any damage was caused by the wild herd of the elephants he further told.
Even the villagers were directed to do away with substances like country made spirits, mohua pouch and locally brewed rice beer which are considered to be the favourites of the jumbos.
Forest personnel armed with fire balls and fire torches were frantically involved to deter the herd from making further advancement on their sojourn, Swain claimed.
The urine and dung of horses which were considered to allergens to the jumbos are also being utilized, he said.
Added to the woes another herd of 30 wild elephants who are trailing this group were being monitored at the border adjoining West Bengal and all possible precautionary measures are on the anvil by the Baripada forest division.
Every year large groups of jumbos make their sojourn to Nilagiri forest range from West Bengal and cause large scale damage to property and lives during November to January.
The victim was identified as Ropa Geria, who attempted to chase away the herd of elephants when it was damaging his paddy field.
The herd which strayed from nearby Jharkhand have caused panic in the locality as the jumbos are on the rampage damaging the paddy crops waiting for harvest since two weeks, a police official said.
The attempt to chase them away by the forest personnel has failed, he added.
The deceased identified as Pramila Dehuri, had gone to her farmland in the morning when she was attacked by an elephant. The incident which was the second death being reported in the last one week due to elephant rampage in the region triggered outrage among the locals.
On the other hand, another woman at Madhabalua village under Sadangi range in Dhenkanal died in a similar incident. The woman was allegedly sweeping her courtyard when an elephant unexpectedly attacked her. Immediately after the incident, the officials of the forest department reached the spot and launched an investigation in connection with the incident.
The situation seems to have gotten worse at Gunia village at Koira, Sundargarh with locals alleging that a herd of 10 elephants have been venturing into human settlements in the area after swaying their tracks from the jungle.
The pachyderms have left heavy damage to several houses and agricultural lands. Villagers have demanded the forest officials to ward off the stray elephants into deep jungle and also provide them with compensation for their damaged property and land.
It may be noted that incidents of man-elephant conflicts had slowed in Odisha in recent weeks possibly due to lockdown imposed in the wake of Covid outbreak.
According to Wildlife Society of Odisha (WSO), wild elephants in Odisha have killed 527 people between April 2014 and March 2020. During the last six years, as many as 442 persons have sustained injuries during conflicts with wild jumbos during a total of 805 recorded incidents of encounters between humans and elephants, the statistics said.
Angul district with 22 deaths has recorded the highest number of human deaths last year due to conflicts with elephants. The State continued to witness just over 100 human-elephant encounters during the years of 2014, 2015 and 2016. But incidents of the man-elephant confrontation showed a steep rise to touch 204 during last year.
As many as 115 people were killed while 132 people injured during 2019-2020, the WSO data said.
(Edited by: Suryakant Jena)
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Elephant Attack Deaths: Forest Officials Unable To Relocate Captured Wild Tusker
As per the reports, the victim had gone out of her home in connection with some work this morning when she was allegedly attacked by an elephant. A wild tusker which had entered the village last night chased her down and trampled her to death, as per reports.
Forest officials have rushed to the spot while the body has been sent for an autopsy. Further investigation is under way.
Meanwhile, angry villagers alleged of inaction by the forest department staff in controlling wild elephant menace in the area and demanded compensation to the deceased’s family.
They said elephant attacks in the district have become frequent as one person had been killed and another injured in separate incidents just two days back.
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