BHUBANESWAR: Close on the heels of three jumbo deaths due to road accident in Keonjhar district, a team of Save Elephant Foundation Trust visited elephant depredation areas of Athgarh Forest Division and Khuntuni range to chalk out strategies for minimising human-elephant conflict. The team suggested adequate fodder and water for the jumbos for all seasons. It also suggested adequate forest cover in elephant habitats to prevent their fragmentation.
Forest officials said seed balls of dendrocalamus bamboo are being prepared and dropped in open hills and lands of all ranges in Athgarh Forest Division to regenerate bamboo forest and enrich elephant habitats.
Member of Lokayukta, Odisha Debabrata Swain, retired IFS officer Jitasatru Mohanty, Athagarh Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Sasmita Lenka and trustee of the foundation Prakash Jena were present.