A 10-member herd of wild elephants which left the Koundinya wildlife sanctuary located at tri-State Palamaner-Kuppam-TN border three weeks ago, have been resorting to crop raids in about a dozen villages in Somala mandal of Punganur range.
The wild elephants moving inside the forests and valleys away from human habitations after leaving the sanctuary have started invading the crops in the adjoining fields since a fortnight, destroying standing crops of tomato and other vegetables and pulling down the trees in the mango orchards. After entering the Chowdepalle mandal, the herd had slowly moved into Somala mandal, reaching as far as Pedda Upparapalle and borders of Irala mandal, 60 km from the sanctuary belt.
A three-member herd had left the sanctuary in early June and after playing havoc in the fields had retreated after a month. In May, two elephants had left the Koundinya and went as far as Pakala mandal, 70 km away from the sanctuary, but retreating without creating any difficulty to the Forest Department.
A farmer of Avulapalle panchayat deplored that the elephants had destroyed his standing crop of tomato in over 15 acres, causing a loss of several lakhs of rupees. Over 20 farmers of the adjoining villages came out with woes of losing their crops. The menace of wild elephants moving close to the human habitations is posing a threat to the free movement of farmers in the fields and the schoolchildren as well, the villagers said.
When the big herd struck the region, it was earlier thought that they were from the Seshachalam forests and might have used the path of Rangampeta-Mangalampeta road. However, clarity emerged among the forest officials that the herd was from the Koundinya sanctuary of the western belt.
Precautionary measures
Forest Range Officer (Punganur), Govinda Rajulu, told The Hindu that farmers had been complaining of the crop losses since 10 days. “We are taking precautionary measures to prevent the herd from moving into human habitations. We are waiting for the herd to retreat into the sanctuary, but we have deployed watchers and trackers to divert the animals back into their habitats,” he said.
