Wild elephants create havoc in Andhra’s Vizianagaram district

According to officials, the elephants strayed into VVR Peta and Rajulagumada villages in Vangara mandal and damaged the crops

Visakhapatnam: A herd of wild elephants created havoc in a few villages in Andhra Pradesh’s Vizianagaram district, damaging crops and sending panic among people.

A herd of jumbos strayed into a couple of villages in Vangara mandal and damaged the crops, officials said. The elephants entered VVR Peta and Rajulagumada villages creating panic among the villagers, who alerted the Forest Department.

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Forest officials rushed to the spot and began efforts to drive away the wild elephants. They have advised the villagers and farmers to remain alert. Farmers were worried over the damage to their crops and have appealed to authorities to take immediate action to protect them from further losses.

This is the latest in a series of man-elephant conflicts in Andhra Pradesh. Vizianagaram and Parvathipuram Manyam districts, bordering Odisha and Chittoor district on the border with Karnataka, have witnessed several such incidents in recent months.

The Andhra Pradesh government has already sought help from Karnataka to address human-elephant conflict. Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan on August 8 met Karnataka’s Minister for Forest and Environment Eshwar Khandre in Bengaluru and sought the help of the Karnataka Forest Department.

The Karnataka government agreed to provide eight trained Kumi elephants to manage, drive, and capture the wild elephants. In May, the Andhra Pradesh forest department officials had placed a request before their counterparts in Karnataka for Kumki elephants. Karnataka is reported to have given 67 kumki elephants to various States.

In 2022-23, it provided 21 elephants to Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra. Kumki elephants are useful in taming wild elephants and thus keeping both animals and humans safe. Wild elephants have been entering villages in parts of Chittoor, Parvathipuram Manyam and Vizianagaram districts.

They not only destroy agricultural and horticultural crops but also attack humans. This has resulted in the loss of a few lives. In May, a farm worker was trampled to death by an elephant at a mango orchard abutting the Sarakallu forest beat of the Thavanampalle mandal in Chittoor district.

In June, an elephant trampled to death another farmer in Ramakuppam mandal in the same district. Last year in August, a couple was killed and another person injured in an attack by wild elephants in Chittoor district. And, in May two persons were trampled to death in two separate incidents in the same district.