Along with human casualties, elephant deaths are also on the rise

Published On: January 10, 2021 12:37 PM NPT By: Amar Khadka

ITAHARI, Jan 10: With the increasing trend of wild elephants from the surrounding Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve causing damage in the human settlement, elephant deaths are also increasing.

A 22-year-old male tusked elephant has died after being electrocuted by a local to protect his crops, according to the Reserve administration. According to Ashok Ram, the warden of the Reserve, the elephant was found dead after being chased by the villagers after it had entered the village.

Earlier, a wild elephant had died in the Saptari Kanchanrup Municipality area on the night of November 2 after being electrocuted. The wild elephant from the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve died after entering the human settlement in the surrounding area.

In the past one month, two people have been killed in an attack by a Makuna elephant of Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve. The locals are now aggressive and are beating the elephants with sharp weapons whenever they encounter them. “It is challenging to save the elephants now. The villagers are targeting them as soon as they enter the settlement,” said Ashok Ram.

According to him, three elephants have died in Jhapa and Koshi Tappu areas in the last two months alone. “Everything must be done to save the elephants, otherwise the number will definitely decrease,” he said.

Wild elephants walk in groups. According to the Reserve administration, the Makuna elephant is still in the reserve area of Sunsari. A group of 14 other elephants were also on the way to Saptari and the elephant that died on Friday was found to have entered the settlement alone. Of the 17 elephants in the Koshi Tappu Reserve and surrounding areas, two have died and only 15 are left.

The reserve is spread over an area of 175 square kilometers including Sunsari, Saptari and Udayapur. However, an electric fence has been set up around the Sunsari settlement to prevent elephants from entering the village. A 25-kilometer electric fence has been set up towards Sunsari east of Koshi. There are a total of 200 to 225 wild elephants in Nepal.

There are 14,865 households around the reservation area.