Violence between two elephant herds leaves one male pachyderm dead near Jamshedpur

Mail News Service

Ghatshila, Feb 7: Violence between two herds of wild elephants in the dense Ghatshila jungle near Makuli village left one male pachyderm, estimated to be between five and six years old, dead. The incident is believed to have occurred two days ago. According to locals, the male elephants of either herd went in for wild confrontation in the Ghatshila forest area near Makuli village. The fight, it was believed, was over territorial rights between the two herds.

Since the incident, the other elephants in the herd have been restless and showing intents of aggression. The wild elephants are still roaming around the vicinity of the incident. It is reported that several trees in the vicinity of the incident site were damaged during the elephants’ clash. Meanwhile, due to the presence of elephant in and around the site of incident are making things difficult for the forest department personnel to comply with procedural formalities even after reaching the site. DFO Dhalbhum, Mamta Priyadarshi and Ranger Vimal Kumar reached the Makuli forest to assess the situation; however, the elephant herd was still stationed nearby. It was stated that there were approximately 10 and 8 elephants respectively in the two herds. Late Tuesday night, the movement of elephants shifted from Makuli to Jhantijharna. Consequently, forest department officials and workers will arrange for the post-mortem and cremation of the deceased elephant on Wednesday. Following this incident, the forest department has been closely monitoring the activities of both elephant groups.