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Pachyderms leaving Chandaka sanctuary

BHUBANESWAR: Call it a behavioural change or attractions for ready-to-harvest crop, elephants of Chandaka-Dompara sanctuary seem to prefer outskirts to dense forests inside sanctuary these days. For the last two months, more than 20 out of 67 pachyderms have been wandering outside the sanctuary limit keeping forest officials on their toes. Reports of crop damage also keep pouring into three forest divisions.

“This could be for the first time in recent years when a large number of elephants have been found outside the sanctuary for so many days,” Divisional Forest Officer of Chandaka-Dompara Sanctuary Akshaya Patnaik said here on Wednesday.

Exodus of sanctuary elephants to human habitation and paddy fields began on November 12, when a herd of 18 elephants scaled four to five km distance to Burunei Hill near Jatni.

They were joined by a herd of 13 as the total number of elephants went up to 31. The pachyderms kept roaming outside more than week before entering the sanctuary.

However, on November 26, another 26 elephants went outside the sanctuary limit, entered human habitation and raided crop fields.

In the process, two persons died and several people were injured while attempting to drive out these big mammals from their respective areas. The herd also entered Chilika Forest Division for the first time.

“We have still another 20 elephants outside the sanctuary limit. Fortunately they have kept silence for a week and are noiselessly damaging crop,” Mr. Patnaik said adding that elephants used to move outside the sanctuary area only for week and the come back.

The sanctuary authority is now trying to seal off its boundary to prevent elephants from going outside. “We have cleared clogging of 47 km-long-trench from Barang Beat House to Minsinghpatna.

By doing so we have been able to close about 150 exit points with another 75 odd exit routes remained open,” the DFO said.

Elephants were so keen to jump the trench that they had already identified weaker portions to make their way to paddy field, Mr. Patnaik said.

Meanwhile, researchers of Asian Elephant Research and Conservation Centre (AERCC) are getting ready for study on

marauding elephants. On experimental basis, they proposed to attach radio collar to map movement of elephants.

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