Wild elephants unleash terror in Kanchanrup Municipality

Wild tuskers have unleashed terror and forced locals to stay awake at night at Charkhiya Tole of Kanchanrup Municipality-12, Saptari.

Locals have been spending sleepless nights after a herd of wild tuskers destroyed three houses and damaged crops four days ago.

A herd of around a dozen wild elephants had destroyed houses belonging to Jaleswor Mochi, Lila Banjara and Ramkishun Khatwe.

Villagers said that they have not been able to sleep as they fear that tuskers might come back to the village again.

“Wild tuskers are killing people every year. It is very difficult to protect children and the elderly from them,” said Dilli Bahadur Khatri, a local.

Six persons were killed by the wild tuskers last year. “Locals will continue to live in terror until a permanent solution is figured out,” Khatri added.

Ward chair Devi Bahadur Khatri complained that their requests to various government agencies to find a permanent solution to the problem had fallen on their deaf ears.

“We had drawn attention of the District Administration Office and security agencies about security threat from wild tuskers and wild buffaloes. However, nothing has been done to prevent the wild animals from entering human settlements and causing loss of lives and property,” Khatri said.

Tuskers coming from Koshi Tappu Wildlife damage life and property at Kanchanpur, Fattepur, Barmajhiya, Goghanpur, Theliya, Mahuli, Bhardaha, Bairaba, Badgama, Kamalpur, among other places, every year.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Tuskers terrorise human settlement in Sindhuli

• SINDHULI: Wild tuskers’ rampage has terrorised the locals in Sindhuli for over a month. Locals have been fearful with the wild elephants entering into human settlement during the evening and night times.

This has compelled people to stay awake throughout the nights.

A herd of five wild elephants was seen in the market area of Sindhuli on Thursday morning.

The wild elephants had caused damages to a house in Bhiman last night and a team of police personnel has been mobilised there for security, said Chief District Officer Janak Raj Dahal.

Loss of property will be assessed and made public once the police team reaches there, he added.


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Tuskers terrorise Araria villagers, injure 2 minors

ARARIA: Two minors were severely injured by a herd of six wild elephants at Barmasia village under Sikti block in Araria district on Friday.

Forest officials said the rampage by the wild tuskers has been going on from past three months, ever since they entered from adjoining forests in Nepal to Kishanganj and Araria and killed three persons.

 Residents of almost all panchayats of Dighalbank block in Kishanganj district have complained that the elephants destroyed standing maize crop in the fields. The worst affected villages include Dhantola, Karubamini, Athgachhia, Uttar Korehili, Banswari, Surivitta, Barahbhang, Talwar Bandh and Chahatpur.

Forest officials said the elephants have destroyed standing maize crops and injured people in Simalbani and Kuchha villages under Sikti block of Araria district.

“The elephants keep coming back from Nepal even after they are made to run away from here through burning of firecrackers. The arrival of elephants in these villages is due to deforestation in adjoining areas of Nepal. Widespread cultivation of maize crop in the villages in Araria and Kishanganj districts is also luring the tuskers,” Araria district forest officer (DFO) Dinesh Chandra Das, who is camping at Kuraihily village in the district from past few days, said. 

Officials said the standing maize crop, its green leaves and selves attract the elephants. “Three farmers have been trampled by the elephants over the last one month. The elephants have destroyed more than 100 acres of standing maize crop in villages along Indo-Nepal border in Kishanganj district,” Das said. He warned villagers against clicking selfies near the elephants.

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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.


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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.

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