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Elephants raid Rishikesh

Staff Correspondent

DEHRA DUN: A number of elephants of the Rajaji National Park have taken to raiding villages and colonies of Rishikesh leaving behind damaged boundary walls, huts, crops and trees over the past week. The worst hit areas are Shyampur, Chidderwala, Gumaniwala, IDPL Colony and Dhalwala.

Efforts to attract the attention of forest officials to stop this menace seem to have evoked only a partial response as the department cites lack of funds to erect electric fences around the park to check the animals from entering the residential areas.

The elephants take to raiding villages around the park during winters in search of water and fodder. These animals get wild on being disturbed and have killed over a dozen persons over the past three years. Villagers have killed several elephants in retaliation over the past decade. Although the park authorities had mooted the idea of building an "elephant corridor" and "elephant bridges" to restore the fragmented habitat, this plan seems to have found no favour from the Govt. "If this sort of negligent attitude continues, both man and animals will continue to be each other's killers," says Yogesh Bahuguna, a Gandhian.

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Elephants raid Rishikesh

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