Pachyderm roams city for five hours, no damage reported
Mail News Service
Ranchi, Feb 27: Panic gripped parts of the state capital on Friday morning after a wild elephant entered Ranchi and roamed around busy areas for nearly five hours before being safely driven back to the forest by the forest department.
Photos/Rajesh Kumar
According to officials, the elephant was first spotted near the National Institute of Advanced Manufacturing Technology (NIAMT) around 5 a.m. It later moved towards Birsa Chowk and the Ranchi Airport area, raising concerns among residents, especially as it was school hours.
Ranchi Divisional Forest Officer Shrikant Verma stated that the elephant may have lost its way and entered the city. “Since it was school time for children, we followed all safety measures,” he said. Forest department teams monitored the animal closely and ensured that people stayed at a safe distance.
Photos/Rajesh Kumar
By around 10 a.m., the elephant was successfully guided out of the city limits and back towards the forest. Verma said that by 2:30 p.m., the animal was in a forest area nearly 12 kilometres from Ranchi. “It caused no damage to the city,” he added.
Officials said elephants frequently move between the Halhu forest area and the Dhurwa Dam region. Similar incidents have occurred in the past. In June 2024, an elephant was seen near the Jharkhand Assembly on the outskirts of Ranchi. Earlier, two elephants entered an abandoned cold storage facility in Ratu, and in 2013, an elephant strayed into the Dipatoli Army Cantonment.
Recently, Chief Minister Hemant Soren expressed concern over rising human-elephant conflict in the state, noting that around 27 people had died in elephant attacks in recent months across several districts. He directed officials to develop measures to prevent further loss of human lives.
