Wild elephants on rampage in Jhapa district

Wild elephants have been terrorising locals by entering human settlements in the northern parts of Damak Municipality, Jhapa. The wild tuskers have destroyed crops and houses over the past few days.

Locals said wild elephants from Hamsedumse Community Forest, which is 12 km from Damak Municipality, had been straying into human settlements and creating havoc.

Local Kul Bahadur BK said, human lives were also at risk.

Another local Padam Lal Tamang said hundreds of locals entered the forest chasing the tuskers away. “We are compelled to spend sleepless nights as elephants enter the settlements at night,” he added.

Although elephants straying into human settlements is a recurring problem in the area, the local government has yet to take any measures for locals’ security.

Damak Municipality Mayor Ram Nath Oli said they were working out a permanent solution to the problem. Meanwhile, he urged everybody to stay alert.

The locals are compelled to work during the day and stay awake during nights due to fear of wild tuskers. Wild elephants have destroyed property worth millions and tonnes of stored food grains over the years. Locals have been seeking a permanent solution to the problems.

Please credit and share this article with others using this link:
https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/wild-elephants-on-rampage-in-jhapa-district/

Work on elephant corridor starts, Province 1 govt allocates budget

The government of Province 1 allocated Rs 60 million for the project which will appropriate some 152km of forest land and river banks from Jhapa’’s Kachankabal Rural Municipality to Bahundangi of Mechinagar Municipality.

“Survey of the project is over and we’ll call for tender notice for necessary fencing by next month,” said National Fund for Nature Conservation member-secretary Govind Gajurel, adding that some 20 million rupees allocated for the project in the last fiscal could not be used and was frozen.

Once the corridor is constructed, it is expected to minimise damage to human life and property from wild tuskers keeping them away from settlement areas while conserving the bio diversity of the region. This is the largest project aimed at controlling elephants in the country so far given the budget and size of the population that stands to benefit from the project. Prior to this, solar fencing and tunnel fencing were adopted to keep tuskers away.

According to District Forest Office Jhapa Chief Bodhraj Subedi, as many as 35 persons have lost lives in Jhapa from tusker attacks while nine elephants were killed by locals in the past seven years.

Please credit and share this article with others using this link:
https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/work-on-elephant-corridor-starts-province-1-govt-allocates-budget/

Tusker terror keeps locals awake all night

The villagers are keeping vigil at night due to the fear of wild tuskers’ possible attack. Dozens of people had lost their lives after the wild elephants from Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve had entered into the human settlements and attacked them.

Durga Devi Yadav, 45, of Kanchanrup Municipality died after the wild tusker attacked her while she was asleep yesterday night, said police. A local, Sallam Shek from Theliya said that the villagers could not sleep fearing elephant attack.

Uttam Acharya of Rupnagar said the authority concerned had taken no initiatives to protect the people from the attack of wild elephants even though many people had already lost their lives. The locals of Phattepur, Kanchanpur, Ghoghanpur, Bairaba, Badagama, Jagatpur, Rupnagar, Bhardaha, Kamalpur, Odraha, Theliya, Mahuli and Hamumannagar are compelled to live in fear and spend sleepless nights.

Please credit and share this article with others using this link:
https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/tusker-terror-keeps-locals-awake-all-night/