The villagers of Nilgir blocks are spending sleepless nights in the fear of migrating jumbos which have sneaked into their areas.
The herd of 25 includes four tuskers, six calves and the rest arefemale pachyderms.
The group is currently residing in the Kuldhia sanctuary adjacent to the village Natakata, said the forest officials.
Although jumbos of the Dalma sanctuary of Jharkhand used to stray into the Nilgiri area, mainly during the paddy harvesting season, in the month of November from West Bengal end via Rasgobindapur and Betnati of Mayurbhanj and stay for about a month in the area, yet in the summer period, their movement is something not commonly observed.
On their way to Nilgiri, the jumbos damaged a few houses of Nilgiri, besides crop fields.
Nilgiri DFO Harsh Bardhan Udgata said, “Although the jumbos used to migrate to Nilgiri area during winter season through West Bengal end each year yet migrating in the summer season is something not common.
However, two years ago also they had migrated to this place during summer. Most likely, they prefer this place because of availability of abundance of water bodies and thick forest.”
“The elephants have not caused much damage except some houses. In the meantime, we have urged people not to store fruits and alcoholic drinks and mahua flowers etc which may attract them. We also appealed to the villagers not to disturb them,” he said.