Bhubaneswar: Exposed steel spikes along forest roads in Kendujhar have emerged as a fresh threat to elephants and other wildlife, as Odisha grapples with high pachyderm mortality from electrocution, train hits and other hazards.
Biswajit Mohanty, secretary of the Wildlife Society of Orissa (WSO), said protruding steel rods on roadside protection walls along the Kanjipani-Telkoi road could seriously injure or kill elephants and other animals descending the forested slopes of Kusuma Ghat near Renda Reserve Forest.
The WSO lodged a complaint with the Chief Wildlife Warden April 13 last, with photographic evidence, seeking directions to the Public Works Department (PWD) to remove the spikes. Nearly 400 metres of roadside walls were found with exposed steel rods measuring four to six inches in height, Mohanty said in a statement.
The concrete walls were built to prevent landslides, but the reinforcement rods were left jutting out after construction, posing a grave risk to elephants, deer, sambars and bears moving down the steep slopes, particularly at night or while fleeing predators.
Despite a reminder to the Wildlife Wing September 14, no action has been taken to remove the hazardous spikes, Mohanty alleged. He warned that the failure to address such avoidable threats could further endanger Odisha’s elephant population, which has already suffered heavy losses from electrocution, railway accidents, road kills, canals and poaching over the past three decades.