india

Updated: Jun 26, 2019 01:47 IST

An adult elephant has caused havoc in three districts of Jharkhand and has trampled to death eight people, including a woman, in the past three weeks. The situation has become worrisome for the state’s forest department.

The rampaging elephant’s latest victim was a 50-year-old woman, who was killed on Tuesday morning while she was out to relieve herself at Kharkachia village, under Poreyahat block of Godda district, around 280 kms northeast of the state capital.

The tusker also injured her companion, who was undergoing treatment at a hospital, forest officials said.

The villagers said the elephant killed three people on June 21 in the block and had been wandering around in the open since then. “Forest officials kept monitoring the movement of the elephant and alerted the villagers to remain vigilant. However, two women ventured out of their houses to relieve themselves around 4.30 am. They had a sudden encounter with the elephant, which was hiding behind a minor bamboo forest,” Manilal, a villager said.

Arvind Kumar , divisional forest officer (DFO), Godda, said, “The elephant has taken four lives so far in the district. Earlier, it has killed two people in Dumka and two in Jamtara.”

Kumar said the elephant was first spotted in Jamtara where it strayed from its herd. It reached Chegaidih village, where it killed 50-year-old Amrul Ansari and 35-year-old Jogen Bauri, on June 7.

The tusker then entered Dumka district and killed two people in two different villages on June 15.

The DFO said, “I have written to the forest department on June 22 for tranquilisation of the elephant and its safe transportation to forest among elephant herds.”

He said the forest teams have been engaged to drive away the elephant from the block. “On Tuesday afternoon, it was spotted at the bordering area of Dumka district,” he said.

Principal chief conservator of forest (wildlife), PK Verma said, “We are exploring the possibilities to send the elephant back to the forest so that it could reunite with its herd.”

In Jharkhand, an average of 64 people were killed every year by elephants since 2009-10. As per the forest department’s ‘damages caused by elephants’ data, a total of 644 people have been killed by elephants in Jharkhand since 2009-2010. A total of 87 people were killed by rampaging elephants from April 2018 to March 2019. Death by elephants has become a major problem in the state.

In August 2017, a rogue elephant from Bihar entered Jharkhand and killed 11 people. The elephant had earlier killed four people in Bihar.

Finding no option to take it under control, the Jharkhand forest department had called hunter Nawab Safath Ali Khan from Hyderabad to shoot the animal. The elephant was shot dead by Khan on August 11, 2017.