Ward chairperson stays awake all night to chase away elephants

KANCHANPUR, Oct 3: Residents of Shuklaphanta Municipality have been staying awake all night to chase away the herd of wild elephants. The elephants have entered from Shuklaphanta National Park and started eating rice and paddy and causing damage.

According to ward chairperson Bahadur Singh Mahara of ward 8 of the municipality, they have been making loud noises of tractors, lighting fires and exploding firecrackers to chase away the elephants. 

“Dozens of elephants have been entering the fields in the evening,” Chairperson Mahara said. “We have not been able to sleep at night for a week because we have to chase away the elephants.” According to him, the wild elephants have destroyed six bighas of paddy planted by local farmers. Elephants have caused more damage in Beldandi, Pariphata, Pillariphata, Kasraul, Garjumani, Khajuwa and Pipladi.

The locals are terrified as the herds are eating the food stored in the house along with the paddy planted in the fields and destroying the houses also. Two years ago, a man from Banshah, Ward 1 of the municipality was killed in an elephant attack. Elephants have been causing more damage in the buffer zone of Shuklaphanta National Park and Chure Fedi settlement.