Jumbos back to haunt Andhra Pradesh's Srikakulam villagers

The efforts so far put in under the operation seemed to have gone in vain with the return of the jumbos.
A herd of elephants at a village in Pathapatnam mandal in Srikakulam district | EXPRESS
A herd of elephants at a village in Pathapatnam mandal in Srikakulam district | EXPRESS

SRIKAKULAM: After putting in continuous efforts to drive back the herd of elephants to the forest by roping in the trained elephants Ganesh and Jayanth (brought from Chittoor), the pachyderms returned to the plain areas of Nandigam mandal two days ago. However, forest officials are intensifying measures to drive back the herd again into the forest. The efforts so far put in under the operation seemed to have gone in vain with the return of the jumbos. The herd comprising eight elephants entered Srikakulam forest from the nearby Odisha Lakharia forests almost six months ago.

After entering the AP region, the herd destroyed crops at Tekkali and surrounding areas. However, the forest officials managed to drive back the herd successfully by firing crackers and use of other methods. The herd was back to the Akkulapeta village in Amudalavalasa mandal on March 27 and stayed there for three days. Considering the seriousness of the issue, forest officials brought the trained elephants (kunkis) Ganesh and Jayanth from Chittoor to drive back the herd again into the forest.

Though initially they named the operation as Operation Gaja, later it was changed to the Operation Gajendra. The Operation Gaja was conducted in 2012 to drive back a herd of 10 elephants. “During the operation, we have been driving back the herd since March 27 from Amudalavalasa mandal,” said Santi Swaroop, the DFO of Srikakulam

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