BHOPAL: Three male elephants have been on a destructive spree in around 30 villages in Anuppur, Jaithari and Rajendragram forests ranges of Madhya Pradesh's Anuppur district.
Captivated by the fragrance of Mahua flowers, Papayas, jackfruits and food grains stocked by farmers in houses falling on the route connecting MP’s Anuppur district to Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi district of Chhattisgarh, the three elephants have wrecked havoc on kutcha houses in the region.
Afraid of the unpredictable elephants, some families in Pandadol Tola of Kusumahi village have not just shifted their belongings to the trees, but also tied their cots to trees to ensure their safety while asleep.
Three families, including two Gond tribe families of Lal Bahadur Singh Gond and Bhawar Singh Gond and the Baiga tribal family headed by Chaurasia Bai Baiga, are among those families which live in the outer area of Kusumahi village that lies along the route taken by wild elephants from Chhattisgarh to enter Madhya Pradesh over the past four years.
“During the winter months December-February, the same three families (whose houses have been damaged by jumbos in the past) had merely shifted their belongings to the tree for safety from elephants and shifted along with family members to the inner and more densely populated part of the village. But with the elephant menace back after a lull of around a month, the heads of the same three families have now even tied their cots to the trees and often spend nights on trees only,” Anuppur-based wildlife and social activist Shashidhar Agrawal told TNIE on Saturday.
In other villages too, at night, families living in the outer periphery are shifting to their relatives' houses in the centre of the respective villages, knowing well that jumbos avoid crowded human habitats.
According to informed sources, wild elephants have been regularly travelling from Chhattisgarh into Anuppur and Shahdol districts of Shahdol forest circle of MP since the last four years.
Two elephants were on a destructive spree for around 45 days in December-January-February 2024-25. One of the two elephants returned to Anuppur again on March 20, followed by two more elephants (all three possibly from a herd of 50 elephants in Chhattisgarh’s Marwahi area) on March 29. All the three wild male elephants have since April 9 been active in different villages of three forest ranges of Anuppur district.
“They’ve ravaged large number of kutcha houses and also destroyed standing cereal and fruit crops in many villages, while being in search of food guided by the fragrance of Mahua flowers, Papaya and Jackfruits,” added Agrawal, who has been continuously tracking the movement of the three jumbos, added.
While confirming the movement of three wild male elephants in parts of Anuppur district, chief conservator of forests (CCF-Shahdol Circle) Ajay Pandey told TNIE, “For us human and elephant safety is equally important. Our teams in coordination with district administration and village panchayats have till now been able to prevent human-elephant conflict. The kutcha houses and crops damaged by the elephants are being compensated by the district administration.”