Jumbo Face-Off A Shared Burden And Heavy Cost For Both Sides

The magnitude of the conflict in Dhenkanal can be gauged from the fact that the division has reported the highest number of elephant deaths as well as human casualties in wild animal attack in Odisha in last six years

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across villages in Hinon of Dhenkanal have increasingly fearful and towards the pachyderm and other wild animals. Of losing loved ones, and with loss of livelihoods made them more rigid, making co-existence difficult.

“End months tending to crops, only to see them destroyed overnight,” said old Bibhuti Bhusan De, a farmer of Nuabaga village. He shared the plight of his agriculture land damaged by a herd of elephants, a few days back.

He said he has applied for a passionate grant under the government’s Anukampa scheme and waiting for the funds to be disbursed for the last six months. “It’s impossible to survive this,” he rued.

The loss is pushing farmers to the brink across Hindol. In some cases, it is forcing families to abandon agriculture altogether, said 25-year-old Chittaranjan Majhi from the area.

The big cost

This, however, is not one-sided. Forest officials admit there has been an alarming rise in elephant fatalities in recent years, primarily from electrocution, illegal charging of fences with direct current and other forms of human retaliation. Wild boar and other species too get killed in snares and traps.