Sundargarh: Panic gripped residents here when a wild elephant strayed into the town early Sunday morning and took refuge at the premises of a church on Mission Road. Locals, who noticed the jumbo at 6am in a bush near the church, informed the Forest Department.
Assistant forest conservator of Sundargarh Division, Tankadhar Behera and sadar range officer Runendra Swain rushed to the spot with a team.
They tried various methods to drive away the elephant. But at the time of writing this copy, the elephant has still not budged an inch. As the area is surrounded with a high boundary wall, the elephant is not being able to escape.
The officials are of the view that the pachyderm might have sneaked from Jharkhand.
Later, Superintendent of Police Soumya Mishra and DFO Arun Kumar Mishra reached the spot and assessed the situation. Mishra said a close watch on the movement of the elephant is being kept and fresh attempts would be made to drive it away in the evening.
PNN