A herd of 120 wild pachyderms have “laid siege” to Baripada Forest Division in Mayurbhanj district of Odisha since the past eight days. However, the forest department with its timely and effective steps has prevented human or jumbo casualties so far, thereby setting an example in management of man-elephant conflict in the country.
A massive task force of 120 people along with local villagers is operating round-the- clock on foot to keep elephants at bay from causing damage in the course of their migration across villages and human landscapes.
So far about seven mud huts and about 10 acres of paddy fields have been partially damaged by the herd, said Sanjay Kumar Swain, DFO, Baripada. This is in contrast to two human deaths, loss of above 450 acres of paddy and damage of 18 houses caused last year, by the migrating herd of wild elephants, which arrive here for raiding paddy fields at this time of the year, he said.
The herd has been trickling into the area from Dalma sanctuary through West-Bengal border, from October 27. They have entered the forest division through Rasgobindpur Forest Range, which happens to be one of the most vulnerable spots of man elephant conflict in the region.
First there was a herd of about 90 elephants, but the number of arriving jumbos seems to be increasing every day. The herd has so far passed through 15-17 villages, he added. While the major part of the herd of about 90 elephants is in Betnotti Forest Range of Baripada, a yet another group of 7-10 has arrived again on Sunday night.
The movement of the herd has become very unpredictable, which is adding to the problem, said Swain. While one group of elephant has been halting in Betnotti since the night of October 30, following the delivery of a calf in the herd, a yet another is putting up near Fuljhari village in Rasgobindpur forest range since Sunday, for similar reasons.
“We put together the elephant squad on time. Experienced members from the nearby Karanjia Forest Division were also added to the task force, to check as much damage as possible by the migrating herd”, said Batokrushna Padhi, Range officer, Dukura, who is leading the squad.
The local staffs along with the villagers and district administration are also assisting the task force. “We are bursting firecrackers, burning mashaal, besides beating drums to track them round the clock and keep them away from attacking in human landscapes,” said Padhi.
Vanoomitra Acharya, Honorary Wildlife Warden, Mayurbhanj, monitoring the elephant drive, said “the arriving jumbos are catching us unawares, just when we finalise our strategies to deal with certain number of elephants, we find more are arriving”.
last year, the herd had crossed over to the Balasore Wildlife Division via Betnotti Forest Range. It stayed in the Nilgiri forest range for about a fortnight. Some elephants even reached up to Kuldiha Sanctuary before taking the route back to Dalma, he said.
Apart from nearly 30 km of Rasgobindpur Forest Range, about 15 km of Deuli range in Baripada Forest Division happen to be vulnerable stretches of man-elephant conflict. “Of this, 12 km stretch of solar fencing and trenching have been completed in Rasgobindpur Range to keep away the elephants from entering villages. Work is in progress to complete the rest”, said Swain.