Elephants raze house of forest official

By Bishnu Prasad Pokharel, Damak, Jan. 19: A herd of wild elephants coming from Hamse Dumse Community Forest, in Damak, Jhapa district, have damaged the house of chairman of the Forest Consumer Committee, Chandra Guragain.

The animals entered a settlement in Damak Municipality and unleashed terror on the locals by pulling down houses of Guragain and others on Monday night.

Chairman Guragain said that elephants have been regularly entering the settlement for a week now and are causing extensive damages. 

The walls and windows of his house were destroyed. The elephants have also destroyed various structures of locals’ houses, feeding off and destroying the crops. 

According to Tulsi Puri, a local, it has become difficult to save lives from the elephants frequenting the villages. 

He said the elephants stay inside the community forest all day and enter the village in the evening. People in wards 2 and 3 of Damak have been bearing the brunt for the past few years. 

Nabin Baral, Chairman of Ward No. 3, said that wild elephants coming from India may have come here through the forest of Chure lowland through Bahundangi in Mechinagar in the eastern border.  A few elephants are also native to the forest.