The Wildlife Society of Orissa (WSO) has urged the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) and Chief Wildlife Warden to take immediate steps to stop two marauding tuskers from killing more humans in Khamar and Talcher Forest Ranges.
“A 56-year-old man was gored by a tusker in Phatatangara under the Khamar forest range.
The next day, a 45-year-old man was gored to death near Badibahal village under the Talcher range. We suspect that both the attacks were done by the same tusker since the distance between the two places is around 10 km and both victims were identically gored with the tusks,” WSO secretary Biswajit Mohanty informed the PCCF in a letter.
He too expressed his suspicion that the tusker might have killed three persons in quick succession around three weeks’ ago in the Khamar Range.
The deceased persons belonged to Nimirbeda, Patamara and Badasada villages, all close to each other.
Stating that the tusker needs to be identified by footprints, he said, “The repeated attacks on human lives has created a panic in the area and agitated the villagers.
Failure to control the tusker may lead to violent protests by villagers. They may invite poachers to kill tuskers and even attack department staffs too.” He said a similar situation had occurred in the Kamakhyanagar Range were 25 person had been killed. However, after the tusker was tranquilised and his tusks were trimmed in Dec’2016, no incident of attack by him has been heard since then.
Besides, he informed that another tusker is also known to have claimed at least 12 human lives in Chhendipada, Kaniha (Angul Division) and Handapa, Bamur (Athamalik divison). Despite many attempts, the tusker has eluded forest staffs so far.
The department needs to keep a database of each such problematic tusker, including their sizes (from footprints) and typical features, he suggested.
Mohanty demanded the PCCF to put into serive a dedicated special squad with at least two vehicles to track the attacking elephants.
Besides, he suggested that a tranquillization team be deployed at Angul so that the tuskers can be caught and their tusks trimmed.