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At last, a sigh of relief for residents of Bhubaneswar

Satyasundar Barik

‘Wicked’ herd of elephants relocates itself in far off Ganjam district

BHUBANESWAR: Residents of the city, who are living close to the Chandaka Wildlife Sanctuary (CWS), can now heave a sigh of relief.

The ‘wicked’ herd of 18 elephants of the sanctuary has since relocated itself in far off Ganjam district.

This is not all. At least 26 of the total 67 pachyderms of the sanctuary have arranged new homes for them.

While the herd of 18 elephants is roaming in Ganjam and another having eight to 10 elephants has made its way to Kalapathar area of Nayagarh district.

These two groups had left their habitat here by early this year.

In fact a group of six to eight elephants left the Chandaka forest way back in 2001. It is believed to have adopted Mahanadi basin as its new habitat.

“At one point of time more than 50 elephants out of 67 were outside the sanctuary area. But a majority of them have returned except these two groups. They have relocated themselves,” Akshaya Patnaik, Divisional Forest Officer of the sanctuary, told The Hindu here on Thursday.

Lack of water

Currently the elephants frequently entering villages in Ganjam belonged to this 18-elephant herd, Mr. Patnaik said.

The group had triggered mayhem damaging acres of ready-to-harvest crops on their way to Ganjam. Recently two of these elephants were rescued from an irrigation well.

There were very slim chances of their returning back to the sanctuary. What is making the elephants leave the forest area? The major reason could be attributed to lack of water availability in the sanctuary.

“There are 22 water bodies which are to be augmented and in long run fulfil the crises on the water availability. Here it is pertinent to mention that out of 13 minor irrigation reservoirs, in 23 designated nalas, two are only inside the sanctuary and rest 11 are at the fringes,” he said.

Alarmed by the exodus of elephants, the CWS authorities have hit upon a novel idea.

“We are developing a meadow over 10 hectare of land with more than 50 species of plant to test the taste of elephants. The field with solar electric fencing will remain untouched for three years. There after we will open it for herbivores of the sanctuary,” Mr. Patnaik said.

The CWS has constantly been trying to keep the mammals inside the forest area by scientifically tracking their movement.

During the last paddy harvesting season, elephant depredation were reported everyday.

Sanctuary area

CWS is spread over 193.39 sq km of area from the western limit of the city.

The total forest area comprises seven reserve forests and 11 protected forests.

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