Farmers quiver as tuskers wreck crops and property

Mar 5, 2018-A herd of wild elephants has been wreaking havoc at Punarbas Municipality in Kanchanpur district near the Indian border for the past one week.

The marauding wild tuskers destroyed 38 houses and damaged crops in fields located in Punarbas Municipality. The local people are in panic due to the elephant menace in the area. “There was reign of terror when a herd of elephants entered the settlement in Punarbas-9  around 10pm on Saturday and wreaked havoc for three hours. Wheat planted in about five bighas of land was completely destroyed,” said Keshav Prasad Timilsina, a local who is also the chairman of ‘elephant victim struggle committee’.

The farmers are very worried now as the elephants damage wheat crop that is ready for harvest.

Elephant menace is a recurring problem in Punarbas area every year. The tuskers from Dudhuwa National Park in India and Shuklaphanta National Park (SNP) enter the settlements and cause havoc.
The local people, especially the farmers and owner of non-concrete houses, have been greatly affected due to the problem.

Similarly, wards No 3, 5 of Punarbas that abut with the SNP are also affected. The tuskers from the park enter the settlement and damage the corps.

“Thirty-eight non-concrete houses were completely destroyed in the municipality in the past few days. Wheat and sugarcane planted in more than 25 bighas of land were also damaged,” said Mayor Dil Bahadur Air. He said that Nepal Red Cross district chapter and Jhali branch provided tarpaulins and kitchen utensils to the victims. The municipality said it provided Rs 2,000 to each family whose crops were destroyed by the tuskers.  

Electric fence was set up in Punarbas area with the help of the District Forest Office, National Trust for Nature Conservation, the SNP and Tarai Arch Landscape Programme. The locals complained that the electric fence was damaged in some places and they are not repaired so far. “The tuskers entered from those places and run amok,” said Timilsina. 

Mayor Air said that the municipality has allocated Rs 1.5 million budget this year to install and repair electric fence in the affected areas. “We will soon install the fence with the support of other agencies,” he added.

The mayor said the municipality is planning to install halogen lights to control the entry of the tuskers for the time being.

 Please credit and share this article with others using this link:
 http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/news/2018-03-05/farmers-quiver-as-tuskers-wreck-crops-and-property.html

Wild elephants run amok in the East

Feb 16, 2018-Wild elephant menace in eastern Nepal has risen in recent times. Six persons have died after being attacked by the elephants from the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve in the running fiscal year, according to the reserve officials.

Chief conservation officer Shyam Kumar Sah said the number of elephant-caused human deaths in the first seven months of the current fiscal year, from mid-July 2017 onwards, accounts for nearly 50 percent of the fatalities recorded since 2008. 
Manju Devi Sah, 35, and Durgi Devi Mukhiya, 45, of Kanchanarup Municipality-5, Saptari, became the latest casualties on Tuesday--the first ever inside the reserve’s territory. 

“The two women were killed 2km inside the western post of the reserve. They had entered the forest to collect firewood,”said Shyam Kumar.  Between 2008 and the first half of 2017, the reserve recorded nine cases of human deaths in elephant attacks. 
Six deaths in the past seven months, from July 2017 till February 2018, is a clear indicator that the incidents of human-elephant conflict have gone up significantly. The reserve officials attribute this to the increased human activities near the protected area.  

“We have been discouraging locals from venturing inside the reserve to collect firewood and fodder, but our advice has gone unheeded,” said Shyam Kumar.  The reserve is spread across 176 sq km covering the districts of Sunsari, Saptari and Udayapur. The cases of human-elephant conflict are high in Saptari. 

Wild tuskers have been wreaking destruction in Odraha, Portaha, Bhardaha, Bairawa, Kankalini Hanumannagar, Fattepur, Rupnagar, Dharampur, Jagatpur and Mahuli villages of Saptari for years now.

Fences built at different places to stop elephants from entering human settlements has not made much of a difference. The reserve officials say most elephants stray inside human settlements in search of food. 

“With the rise in human population, we have settlements expanding everywhere. Forest and vegetation covers are rapidly shrinking, causing elephants and other wildlife to enter human settlements in search of food,” said Shyam Kumar.


Please credit and share this article with others using this link:
http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/news/2018-02-16/wild-elephants-run-amok-in-the-east.html

Elephant behind six deaths gets radio collar

GULARIYA:  The Bardiya National Park (BNP) has installed a radio collar to a marauding wild elephant in a bid to track its movement and prevent it from entering the human settlements.

The BNP team on Sunday fixed the GPS-equipped collar on the wild tusker named Jangali that killed six persons in Bardiya last year.

“The constant emission of radio signals from the device will enable us to track the animal’s movement. It helps to chase away the tusker immediately after it strays out of the park forest,” said acting Chief Conservation Officer Ashok Kumar Bhandari.

The BNP team darted the elephant as it entered Dakela village in the buffer zone of the BNP. Rangers from the BNP, officials from the National Trust of Nature Conservation and Nepal Army were involved in installing the radio collar. The pachyderm was later released in the BNP forest.

The BNP administration are planning to install the radio collar on another wild elephant believed to have entered the human settlements. The wild elephants from the BNP and Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary of India had entered the settlements in Thakurbaba and Barbardiya municipalities and wreaked havoc a month ago. They destroyed more than two dozen houses and damaged wheat planted in hectares of land in the area.

Local people complain that the authorities concerned paid no heed to their repeated requests for stopping the recurring menace of wild animals. They have been demanding that an electric fence be installed to prevent the wild elephants from entering the settlements.

As per the data available at the BNP, 36 people were killed by wild elephants in Bardiya district in the past 18 years.

Please credit and share this article with others using this link:http://www.nepalmountainnews.com/elephant-behind-six-deaths-gets-radio-collar/

Forest path being constructed for stopping elephant menace

BANIYANI, JHAPA — Construction of footpath has started in the forest areas around Bhadrapur Municipality in Jhapa district in a bid to controlling the wild elephant menace.

The forest trail is being constructed in the forest at Ward Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the municipality, said Kajiman Rai, the chief administrative officer of the Municipality. The municipality has allocated Rs 5.5 million for the construction of the forest path in the fiscal year 2017/18.

Mayor Jeevan Kumar Shrestha said attractive and safe trail is being constructed linking the community forests at various municipality wards also keeping in mind the possibility of tourism development.

Works on construction of the forest path have been started from Dasrathpur community forest at Ward No. 1 of the municipality. Mayor Shrestha said the path would be constructed in such a way that there would be no risk of wild elephants as wire fence would be constructed on both sides of the road to prevent their entry.

The forest path will connect the municipality wards from Ward No. 1 to 4.

Please credit and share this article with others using this link:https://kathmandutribune.com/forest-path-constructed-stopping-elephant-menace/

Tusker menace terrorises Jhapa locals

BHADRAPUR, JHAPA — Wild elephant menace has taken its toll in the east southern area of Jhapa district throwing the locals into a terror. According to available data, at least 28 people were killed in elephant attacks in the district in the past seven years, and many others injured.

They also destroy houses and ripen crops, said a local. At present a herd of around 13 elephants strays from Assam in India into places like Jyamirgadhi, Duwagadhi, Chandragadhi, Garamani, Haldibari Jalthal, Prithivinagar, Baluwabadi, Kechana, Pathariya and Gherabari, and destroys crops, he added.

Millions of rupees worth of crops and banana farming have been destroyed in elephant rampages so far, said a local Chuda Raj Bhattarai of Kachanakabal-3.

He said the locals are forced to sleepless nights in an attempt to save their crops from elephants.

Despite the elephant menace going on for a decade, no concrete steps have been taken to resolve the problem.

The locals accused the government and other concerned authorities of being apathetic towards their woes. The District Forest Office however has started fencing the affected areas with solar barbed wire to control the elephant menace.

Please credit and share this article with others using this link:https://kathmandutribune.com/tusker-menace-terrorises-jhapa-locals/

Wild tusker claims one in Ilam

MANGALBARE — A person was killed after a wild elephant attacked him on Sunday in Chulachuli Rural Municipality-3, Ilam.

The District Police Office, Ilam, said that Somnath Bhandari, 52, of Peltimari village in Chulachuli succumbed to injuries. He died on the way to hospital in Jhapa district after the elephant attack.

It is said that the wild elephant attacked Bhandari when he was irrigating his farm. The wild elephants have ramped in the area by destroying the houses of locals and damaging the crops since last couple of weeks.

Please credit and share this article with others using this link:https://kathmandutribune.com/wild-tusker-claims-one-ilam/

Five arrested over elephant killing in Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan police have arrested five men for allegedly killing a wild elephant, with officers seizing ivory and tusk-cutting tools, officials said Friday. Villagers in the island’s northwest had alerted wildlife authorities after a popular local elephant called “Dala Poottuwa”, or crossed tusker, disappeared.

Its carcass was later found with a bullet wound in the skull. Authorities broke up what they say is a poaching network as part of their investigation, charging five men with killing the elephant. “They had in their possession several tools used to cut tusks (and) two ivory pendants,” said police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera.

Elephants are protected under Sri Lankan law and poachers can face the death penalty for killing one. Tusked elephants are rare in Sri Lanka, accounting for less than five per cent of the island’s estimated elephant population of around 6000. That figure has declined from the last official census of the island’s elephants, which identified more than 7300 animals.

Please credit and share this article with others using this link:http://www.osnepal.com/418487

Two held with silver and elephant tail hair

Police have arrested two people for possessing illegal silver and elephant hair tufts from Bardibas in Mahottari district today.

Bisraj Tiwari of Tikapur municipality, Kailali district and Laxmi Koirala of Tilaknagar-1, Kalikot district were arrested along with 9.400 kilogrammes of silver ornaments and 15 thousand 100 units of what appeared to be elephant hair, Deputy Superintendent at the Area Police Office, Prabin Pokharel, said.

Tiwari and Koirala were arrested from Sishmahal Hotel at Bardibas, acting on a tip-off. Both are being held at the Area Police Office, Bardibas for investigation, according to police.

Please credit and share this article with others using this link:https://www.inheadline.com/news/two-held-with-silver-and-elephant-tail-hair

Wild elephant kills 35-yr-old man in Nepal

A wild elephant in Nepal killed a 35-year-old man who had attempted to chase it away, police said Wednesday.The man was among a group of villagers, who late Tuesday tried to chase away a herd of four wild elephants in the village of Bhadrapur in the country's south-east, said senior police officer Bishnu KC. Conflicts between wild animals and humans have increased in recent years in southern Nepal's buffer zones.

Please credit and share this article with others using this link:http://www.qatar-tribune.com/news-details/id/93719

Budget allocated for controlling wild elephant menace

The government has allocated Rs 20 million in the first phase for controlling the wild elephant menace here in the district.

The amount was released through the National Planning Commission, according to Bodhraj Subedi, Forest Official at the District Forest Office, Jhapa.

Although the demand was made for Rs 130 million with the NPC, permission was granted for releasing Rs 8.89, Subedi added.

The memorandum was sent to the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation through Nepali Congress lawmaker Krishna Prasad Sitaula to tame the wild tuskers wreaking havoc in Jalthal, Bhadrapur, Kechana, Haldibari and Mechinagar among other locations.

As per the a slew of control measures, a biodiversity road will be constructed from Jalthal area to Bahundandi and 80 km long electric wire fencing will be set up from Charali to Gherabari jungle. The authorities also plan on installing electric wire along 50 km stretch around the Jalthal jungle, 20 km stretch around Charali jungle and 10 km at Gherabari.

At a press conference held on Friday, lawmaker Sitaula called for using the budget allocated for taming the elephant menace in Jhapa.  He added that the budget would be useful in constructing the biodiversity road and promoting ecotourism and agrotourism.

Please credit and share this article with others using this link:http://therisingnepal.org.np/news/19621

Wild elephant destroys houses in Urlabari

A wild elephant that strayed into human settlement from the nearby jungle destroyed two houses in Urlabari, causing a loss of Rs. 1.2 million. The houses of Balbir Thapa and Santa Dhimal in Jharsadi, Urlabari-1 were brought down by the elephant, according to Area Police Office, Urlabar, police inspector Chandra Bahadur Thapa. The incident took place at mid-night when the wild animal came from the nearby Miklunk jungle.

Please credit and share this article with others using this link:http://www.osnepal.com/351461

Wild Elephant Kills A Man In Nepal

A wild elephant mauled a 58-year-old man to death early Friday near a wildlife reserve in south-eastern Nepal, police said.

The man was asleep at home when the elephant entered the village of Belka in Udayapur district, said Nara Bahadur KC, a senior police officer.

“His family members fled their tin shed home, but the man had poor vision so he couldn’t run fast enough,” he told dpa.

The man was found dead a few yards from his home near the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve, a sanctuary close to the country’s largest river Koshi.

The protected area covering three districts in the south-east is home to wild animals including elephants, water buffalo and rare species of birds.

Earlier this month, a leopard killed a 13-year-old girl who was sleeping at her home in Nepal’s far west.

Conflict between wild animals and humans has increased in recent months in Nepal, raising concerns about the safety of people living near protected areas.

Please credit and share this article with others using this link:http://weeklyxpose.co.za/2017/07/21/wild-elephant-kills-man-nepal/

Tusker raids terrorise Panbara residents

Residents of Panbara in Dharan Sub-metropolitan City have been distraught due to the frequent invasion of wild elephants for the past four days.

The people of Panbari have been an agonised lot ever since wild elephants started entering their settlements and destroying houses and ruining the crops at night.

“Squatters in the area have been most affected due to the intrusion of the elephants,” said Bigyan Shakya, a local.

The beasts, this morning, damaged the cemented walls of Amrit BK’s house and the house of Jungarani Lawati in Ghopali Tole.

A house belonging to Dhrub Katuwal of Ukhubari Tole was damaged by tuskers yesterday. Likewise, on Monday, wild elephants had caused a house at Charpate Aahal to collapse, according to Krishna Limbu, local.

The tuskers have destroyed a large amount of grains, crops, fruits and vegetables at night. “After wild elephants started frequenting the settlement at night, we have started to keep vigil for security throughout the night by forming a joint team including the public and security personnel,” said Binod Bishwokarma.

According to locals, Panbara is the most tusker-affected area in the district.

Over a dozen persons have been killed in the past two decades in tusker attacks, informed ward member Hari Rai. The tuskers enter Nepal via Charkoshe Jhadi from the Indian side as well.

Please credit and share this article with others using this link:

Jhapa locals live in fear of elephant raids

A perennial occurrence of wild elephant raids has terrified the locals of then Chandragadhi VDC -1, 3 and 9 in the district.

The problem has forced the locals to the extent of staying wide-awake throughout nights due to the rampaging elephants. The tuskers straying from nearby Indian forests enter the villages and wreck havoc in the villages.

The occurrence of elephant raids has shifted to the villages from Bahundangi in eastern Jhapa, which used to face such problem, but now free of it with the authorities having taken necessary steps, local people said.

A herd of five pachyderms that are taking refuge in Chandragadhi community forest enters the village in the evening, attacks locals and destroys crops and houses, the locals said.

Two days ago, a wild elephant entered the village and destroyed three houses at Bhadrapur-10, said local social worker Yadav Prasad Bhattarai.

He said although a patrol team from the District Forest Office with the help of the locals has been helping to ward off the elephants, but in vain. He demanded that a long term plan be devised to control the menace.

Please credit and share this article with others using this link:http://977now.com/2017/07/19/56157