Chowkidar and Guard saved dozens of livesAccording to chief conservator of forests (CCF-Shahdol Circle) Ajay Pandey, with the Tendu Leaves plucking season at its peak currently, hundreds of villagers were busy plucking tendu leaves early morning in the jungles.“Our elephant trekking team was on alert and warning about the arrival of elephants from behind. Had the trekking team, particularly chowkidar Ram Sajeevan Pal and forest guard Jagmohan Singh, not timely alerted the villagers plucking tendu leaves about the movement of the two wild elephants, the casualties might well have been dozens. The two forest department personnel have saved many lives by timely alerts,” Pandey said.According to a senior forest department official posted in Shahdol district, the herd of wild elephants have been travelling from BTR towards Sanjay-Dubri Tiger Reserve frequently since 2020. But while traveling towards Sanjay-Dubri Tiger Reserve, they’ve been staying largely confined to Beohari circle only (in areas close to the Beohari town). This time, however, the herd of elephants from BTR has travelled 15-20 km more into Godawal forest area.“The jumbos generally eat the crops during nocturnal hours and stay in the forests during daytime. But they suddenly emerged out of the jungles early on Monday and attacked the villagers, resulting in the three human casualties,” a forest department official in Shahdol said.
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