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Elephant herd goes on rampage in Uttarakhand’s Ramnagar, damages shops; patrol intensified
Uttarakhand has 2,026 elephants according to the latest elephant census released earlier this year, reporting a 29.9% increase in the jumbo population since 2015
A herd of wild elephants went on a rampage in a residential area of Ramnagar in Nainital district on Monday night, damaging some shops and creating panic in the area. The forest department officials have intensified patrolling in the area.
Chandrashekhar Joshi, divisional forest officer (DFO) Ramnagar forest division, said some elephants entered Dhikuli village in Ramnagar area on Monday around 3am.
“These elephants damaged three shops and created panic in the area. The shopkeepers came to know about the incident when they reached their shops in the morning and saw them ransacked. They informed the fore
st department about the incident, demanding immediate steps to check the movement of the wild elephants towards residential areas in their village. The forest officials we sent there confirmed the attack by the elephant herd after spotting elephant dung near the damaged shops”, he said.
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“Kosi forest range team rushed to the spot. Night patrolling has been intensified in Dhikuli area. Tentacle fencing will be done and a trench dug in the area to prevent elephant movement towards the village” said Joshi.
“The shops that have been damaged will be surveyed and based on that compensation will be provided,” he added.
Uttarakhand has 2,026 elephants according to the latest elephant census released earlier this year, reporting a 29.9% increase in the jumbo population since 2015. In 2012, there were 1,559 elephants while in 2017 there were 1,839 elephants in the state.
The aggression of elephants in Uttarakhand’s Corbett landscape, Rajaji National Park landscape and Tarai areas is becoming a major concern for wildlife officials. Besides damage to crops and property, people are killed by elephants on a regular basis.
In July, a forest watcher’s wife was crushed to death by a wild elephant in Terai East forest division in Kumaon. In June, a 51-year-old forest watcher was crushed to death by a wild elephant in Chorgaliya. In May this year, a 65-year-old old labourer working in Chilla range of Rajaji National Park was mauled to death by a tusker. Last year in November, a 52-year-old man died after a wild elephant used his trunk to pull him out of a bus he was travelling in, and flung him in the air near Corbett Tiger Reserve.
