Elephants terrorise Morang villagers

By Hari Prasad Koirala,Urlabari, Feb. 23: Locals of Letang, Jante and Miklajung areas in Morang district are now living in constant fear after hordes of elephants started roaming around their villages, causing damages to their crops as well as houses. 

Terror of wild elephants has increased in  these areas for the past three months. According to locals, there is not a single village that has not been affected  by the elephants since mid-November, 2022. 

On Monday, 13 wild elephants, including four calves, entered a village in Ward No. 6 of Miklajung Rural Municipality and destroyed three houses. 

"The villagers were bound to stay awake all the night because of the fear of elephants. Around 800-kg paddy stored in the house of Hari Subedi was destroyed by the elephants by breaking a steel fence," said Khadi Magar, ward chairman of Ward No. 6 of Miklajung.

According to Magar, around half of the paddy was eaten by the elephants while the remaining was littered. While attacks from the elephants have been common, the  villagers complained that the local governments had taken no effective measure  to avert the damages from the wild elephants.

Meanwhile, an elephant has destroyed the house of Province 1 Assembly member  Ekraj Karki in Birtamod. According to Karki, the elephant destroyed his and his brother Shambhu Karki’s House Tuesday night.