Wild elephants move into villages, trample crops

SHAHJHANPUR: Over two dozen wild elephants went on rampage in
villages around Majhgai range of Dudhwa tiger reserve over the past few
days. A herd of wild elephants, roughly over 25, move into villages and
trample the standing crops almost every day. Even though villagers have
sought help, the forest department is yet to take any substantial action to
control the damages caused by pachyderms. There are two herds of wild
elephants that have migrated from Nepal forests to Dudhwa Tiger reserve.

Their movement could be seen around the core and buffer area of the reserve.

On Tuesday evening, a herd of elephants entered into Chokhra farm and
destroyed around 2.5 acres of the standing wheat crop . The movement of
these wild elephants is quite frequent in Chokhra farm, Bhagwant Nagar and nearby villages. A months ago, a wild elephant had killed an elderly man and injured three persons. Due to aggressive nature of these elephants, villagers are scared of taking action against them. On the other hand, forest department says that the movement of these elephants is mainly during the night when it becomes difficult to take any action.

DFO, Dudhwa Tiger Reserve buffer area, Anil Patel said, “so far it doesn’t look like that these elephants have deviated from their normal route. Few villagers have started farming extremely near to the forest area. We are keeping a track on these elephants and assessing the losses caused to the farmers.”

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