Wild elephant scare grips Madhya Pradesh’s Anuppur, Shahdol as three tuskers ravage houses in search of food

With the paddy crop already harvested, the tuskers are unable to find bulk food in agricultural fields. Consequently, they search for paddy and mahua in kutcha houses after sunset, damaging those where they find suitable food.
Representational image of an Elephant.
Representational image of an Elephant.(File Photo)
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BHOPAL: Two neighbouring districts in eastern and south-eastern Madhya Pradesh are facing the menace of three wild elephants that are destroying kutcha houses in their search for suitable food.

Two male elephants that migrated from the neighbouring Marwahi area of Chhattisgarh have been a cause of concern for villagers and wildlife teams in Anuppur district for the past month. Their presence even forced two families in a remote village to place their belongings on a tree for safety last month.

Meanwhile, in Shahdol district's Beohari East forest range, another male elephant, likely part of a herd from the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (BTR) in Umaria and Shahdol districts, has also been on a destructive rampage. This has triggered protests by residents of Bedra village on Friday.

In Pandadol Tola (Kusumahi) village of Anuppur district, which reportedly houses just two families - one from the Baiga tribe and the other from the Gond tribe - both tribal families had no option but to hang their belongings, particularly food grains and related items, on trees for several days last month.

Picture of two tribal families having put their food grain and other items on a tree out of the fear of elephants in Anuppur district's  Pandadol Tola (Kusumahi) village.
Picture of two tribal families having put their food grain and other items on a tree out of the fear of elephants in Anuppur district's Pandadol Tola (Kusumahi) village.(Photo | Express)

“Both families reside in kutcha houses located along the route taken by the elephant herds travelling in and out of Anuppur from Chhattisgarh over the past two years. In search of food, particularly paddy and mahua, the elephants have damaged parts of both houses multiple times. As a result, the families shifted their daily-use items and food grains to trees, retrieving them only after the elephants left,” said Anuppur-based wildlife and social activist Shashidhar Agrawal.

“It has been a month since the two male tuskers became active in villages in the Jaithari subdivision, including Gobra, Dhangavan, Paganha, Thengarha, Kekarpani, Lakhanpur, and Baihar. The two elephants are part of a five-member herd that has been migrating between Anuppur and Chhattisgarh over the past two years. While two elephants were rescued by forest department teams and relocated to the BTR and Kanha Tiger Reserve, one elephant was electrocuted by a wire trap in Kansa village of Anuppur in January 2024. Now, only two elephants from that herd continue to travel between Anuppur and Chhattisgarh,” he added.

With the paddy crop already harvested, the tuskers are unable to find bulk food in agricultural fields. Consequently, they search for paddy and mahua in kutcha houses after sunset, damaging those where they find suitable food.

“Rescuing them isn’t a viable solution, as they are bound to return to Chhattisgarh in time. Currently, they are in forests around 15–20 km from the adjoining state. We are closely monitoring their movements and educating villagers on how to avoid human-elephant conflicts,” said Vipin Patel, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Anuppur.

In Shahdol district, while a 19-member herd is thriving in the dense forests near the backwaters of the Bansagar Dam, a lone male elephant roaming between the Shahdol East and Godaval forest ranges is causing concern for residents of Bedra and Kothir villages.

“The elephant frequently visits this part of Shahdol district, and this is likely its fourth visit in a year. It stays in the forests between the two villages during the day and ventures out in the evenings, searching for food in the villages, which house around 1,500–2,000 people. With no paddy crops in the fields, it often damages kutcha houses while foraging,” said Shahdol East Forest Ranger Sandeep Gautam.

“Our three patrolling teams are continuously tracking the elephant, and fortunately, no human casualties, injuries, or conflicts have been reported so far,” he added.

“Since most houses in these villages are kutcha houses, we have requested the local MLA to sanction pucca houses under the PM Housing Scheme to prevent long-term damage by elephants that frequently travel through this area,” Gautam stated.

According to forest department sources in Bhopal, around 100 wild elephants are currently present in various districts of eastern and south-eastern Madhya Pradesh, including the BTR and Sanjay Tiger Reserve.

The department is now focusing on drafting an elephant and habitat management plan, as elephant herds from neighbouring Chhattisgarh have increasingly been making MP forests their home or travelling through the state. Forest department teams recently visited Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu to study best practices for managing wild elephants.

This effort gained urgency after the death of ten elephants in the BTR due to millet mycotoxin poisoning.

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