Video: Elephant Strays Into Odisha Town, People Forced To Stay Indoors

A wild tusker from Similipal National Park entered Baripada town in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district on Thursday forcing people to remain indoors till the jumbo was chased away from human habitation areas.

Panic gripped the town in the early hours of Thursday when a wild sub-adult tusker entered into the human habitation area. The animal was found roaming in the town unable to find the route to return to his jungle habitation inside the Similipal National Park.

#WATCH | Wild elephant strays into Baripada town of Mayurbhanj district in Odisha. A team of the Forest department is conducting an operation to rescue the elephant pic.twitter.com/RuhVqHWooq

— ANI (@ANI) January 18, 2024

A viral video showed the jumbo running from one place to another in the town. However, no one was injured in the incident, officials said, adding that the animal had caused some minor damage by breaking iron grills of some houses and boundary walls.

The elephant first trespassed into MKC Government High School. Though the school was closed due to Makar Sankranti and Srimandir Parikrama Pralakpa inauguration some students were in the hostel.

“We first evacuated about 30 children from the hostel as the jumbo broke the boundary wall of the school,” a police officer said, adding that the elephant was chased by the local people. Though the children were screaming out of fear, no one was injured in the elephant attack, a school teacher said.

The animal later reached the nearby English medium school. However, the school was not opened till the elephant left the town after creating havoc for about six hours, said Santosh Joshi, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Baripada.

As the jumbo headed towards the centre of the town, the police blocked all major roads and asked the people to remain indoors till the elephant remained in the marketplace. The police used a public announcement system appealing to people to remain indoors and not to instigate the animal by throwing stones targeting it.

Later, when the tusker broke the boundary fencing wire, the forest officials from Similipal National Park, equipped with a tranquillizer chased the jumbo and sent it back to the Similipal Wildlife Sanctuary, the DFO said.

Nearly 50 forest and police personnel were engaged to chase away the jumbo.

Finally, the elephant left the town after six hours, the DFO said, adding that four forest teams were now monitoring the elephant even as it entered into the National Park.