Elephants emerge from jungles as Army moves in

Guwahati: The sound of vehicles carrying Army and security personnel deep inside the jungles of Kokrajhar district in search of Bodo militants has driven out wild elephants from their habitat, creating panic in human settlements.
A herd of 30 elephants first moved out from deep inside the Kachugaon forest to areas on the fringes on Tuesday night after NDFB-S militants went on the rampage, killing Adivasis settled inside the forest by firing from their automatic weapons and torching their homes.
The herd remained inside a rubber plantation area till the Army and security personnel vehicles moved in on Saturday morning .
On Saturday, an elephant calf was rejected by its mother after it came in contact with humans at Kumguri village. Fakiragram forest in-charge Atul Rai said the young one had wandered away from the herd and was rescued by villagers.
“When we pushed the calf into the herd, the mother kicked it. It was no longer accepted by the herd as elephants, by nature, reject a member if it comes into contact with humans.”
“Elephants are disturbed by the loud sounds. The herd split into three smaller groups. While one entered Kumguri village, another roamed the Dotoma village. The third group waited at Laodanga village. Majority of the animals are calves,” said the forester.
Forest officials from Haltugaon and Gossaigaon forest divisions were called in at the three villages to protect the elephants and keep people away from them to prevent human-animal conflict.
“We will try to drive them back into the jungles with powerful lights and fires,” the forester said.
The Kachugaon forest is a biodiversity hotspot which stretches from the northern boundary of Kokrajhar town to the international border with Bhutan. The forest is the western border of the Chirang-Ripu elephant reserve.