Ranchi Elephant Scare: Tusker Roams Hatia Residential Area, Safely Returned to Forest

Ranchi: Panic and chaos gripped locals in Hatia here in the early hours of Friday as a tusker roamed around the densely populated area.

The male elephant, aged around 15 years, entered the residential area from the nearby forest of Nagri. As news of the elephant’s sighting spread, many locals rushed to get a glimpse of the elephant and take photographs.


Forest and district administration officials reached the spot and drove the elephant back to Khunti forest.

Ranchi divisional forest officer (DFO) Srikant Verma told TOI that forest officials received information about the elephant sighting at around 4:30 am.

“A herd consisting of four elephants was stationed near the Hatia dam on Thursday. Elephants often come to the dam to drink water. On Thursday evening, forest officials drove away the herd. But one of the animals stayed there and ventured into the residential area on Friday morning,” Verma added.

He said that as soon as information reached them, forest officials went to the spot and burst firecrackers and blew sirens to drive the elephant back into the forest.

“The elephant did not cause any harm to people or property. The elephant’s movement is being continuously monitored by the forest team so that it cannot come back to the residential area, leading to any untoward incident,” Verma said.

“Elephants venturing into residential areas have become a recurring occurrence, leading to widespread destruction of cropland, houses and human-elephant mortality. It is a result of unbalanced development and conservation efforts. There is a need to augment resources for wildlife conservation in the state. The forest department has a manpower crunch. Out of the total 392 posts of forest range officers in the state, only 52 officers are filled. The state has no foresters,” a forest official said on condition of anonymity.