Two tribal women were trampled to death by elephants in the Kuldiha reserve forest in the district, a forest officer said today.
A herd of elephants attacked five tribal persons when they were returning home after attending a festival through the reserve forest last night, Divisional Forest Officer of Balasore Harsabardhan Udgata said.
The animals trampled two women to death, while the rest managed to escape, he said.
Being large-bodied, elephants need a large habitat for
survival and are therefore known to migrate into the neighbouring forests of Bangladesh from Assam and Meghalaya.
Any obstruction on their seasonal migration routes often leads to conflicts including loss of lives and damages to crop and property in villages.
It is estimated that Assam is home to about 5000 elephants while Meghalaya has another 1800 jumbos. Altogether there are six elephant corridors along the Indo-Bangladesh border in these two northeastern states.
"I fully endorse any attempt to restore traditional migratory routes of elephants that have been blocked by anthropogenic linear constructions such as boundary fences," said Wildlife Trust of India's CEO Vivek Menon, who also leads the Asian elephant specialist group of IUCN.
However, he cautioned that just making a gate will not solve the issue unless the corridor is long enough and has enough cover for elephants to cross over.
WWF's Dipankar Ghosh stressed on the need to have a transboundary agreement with Bangladesh to ensure safety of wildlife.
"Both sides have to take lot of mitigation measures. Whether the animal belongs to India or Bangladesh both sides should take responsibility for safety of the wildlife," he said.
Assam-based wildlife NGO Balipara Foundation's Robin Eastment said elephants use the entire forests along the border for movement.
"But once if they know that they have a safe and secure gate to pass through then they are smart enough to use that route from the next time," he opined.
Declared as India's national heritage animal, the number of elephants have been on a decline due to loss of habitat and fragmentation of forests.
