An elephant herd from Jharkhand turned violent as the locals tried to chase them away while they were guarding a female jumbo which had given birth to a calf in Nilagiri on Sunday.
The herd went berserk raiding nearby villages and damaging 10 houses. They also consumed paddy crops and other food materials that were stored by villagers in their houses.
After another group of 12 elephants joined the herd, the number of Jharkhand elephants in Kuldiha reserve forest here has reached 97. So far, the elephants have damaged 56 houses in six villages. The female elephant delivered the calf in a paddy field near Bhalkasuni and later took it to Tinkosia forest. For safety of the calf, the mother elephant was encircled by a group of elephants including two tuskers.
A forest guard said listening to the screams of the elephants when they rushed to the spot, they found a herd of over 25 elephants surrounding the mother elephant and the calf.
Forest officials said the elephants were aggrieved as the locals tried to chase them to prevent damage to paddy fields. Agitated by the villagers activities, the herd raided nearby villages damaging four houses in Bhagakiari and six in Siadimal.
Other elephants in the herd are camping in Tinkosia and Kuldiha forests.
Soon after the incident, the locals blocked the Nilagiri-Kaptipada road near Bhalkasuni demanding cooked food to the families shifted to temporary shelters, free treatment of the persons injured during elephant depredation and driving away the animals.