Patna: A herd of elephants from forests of Jharkhand wreaked havoc in Champua forest range of Keonjhar district and Karanjia forest range of Mayurbhanj district Friday night.
The wild herd strayed into villages and ransacked several houses in Champua area apart from destroying acres of paddy and vegetable cultivation, locals said.
The herd that has 23 elephants including calves entered Karanjia area through Patna range after crossing Baitarani River late Friday night and wreaked havoc there. The elephants strayed into human settlement in search of food and damaged many houses including the farmhouse of Akhil Nayak.
It should be mentioned here that elephants often come out of the forests at night, causing chaos by damaging the kharif crops. The increasing frequency of their forage has caused panic among locals who have asked the forest department to take concrete steps to prevent the elephants from straying into human settlements.
Local residents have also asked the department to assess the damages and provide compensation at the earliest.
PNN