Separated from herd, lone jumbo goes on rampage in Koderma village

Koderma: A day after an elephant went on a rampage in a village in Markaccho block of the district, forest officials on Monday urged the locals to remain alert and promptly report sightings of elephants in the area. However, no injuries or casualties were reported till Monday evening as the elephant remained in a nearby forest.On Sunday evening, the pachyderm strayed into Bhagwatidih village after getting separated from its herd. The elephant then knocked down the protective netting around a local anganwadi centre and destroyed crops on the campus.Then, the elephant razed the boundary walls of residents Juthan Singh and Dilip Tiwary and then destroyed standing onion crop of Beena Singh, another local. The pachyderm also uprooted two trees and knocked down a poultry farm as it moved through the settlement.“The elephant was a part of a herd of four which moved in from Hazaribag,” divisional forest officer Saumitra Shukla said on Monday. Elephant herds enter Koderma from Hazaribag by crossing the Barakar River, which is a tributary of Damodar. “A quick response team is monitoring the elephant’s movement round-the-clock and working to drive the animal away from human settlements,” Shukla said.