Bhubaneswar: Fun and frolic turned into terror for a group of picnickers in Odisha’s Simplipal Tiger Reserve when a captive elephant strayed into the area and ransacked cooking items and vegetables brought by them.
Forest officials said the elephant was disturbed by the high decibel sound of the DJ brought by the picnickers as part of their revelries.
According to sources, the kunki elephant (used to tame wild jumbos) named Bablu was tied to a tree with a chain near the picnic spot in the buffer zone of Pithabata forest range in Mayurbhanj district. The animal broke the chain and rushed into the area where the picnickers were cooking. The revellers fled the spot in fear and the elephant destroyed everything. A group of mahouts later tamed the animal,
“No one was hurt in the incident. The picnickers were allowed to cook food after the mahouts pulled away the animal with the same iron chain it had broken earlier. Now it is under control,” informed Pithabata range officer Ugrasen Jena.
On their part, the picnickers complained that no mahout was present during the incident. “The elephant could have killed anyone of us. In a forest terrain, it’s difficult to run for cover,” said one of the revellers.
In another incident in Mayurbhanj district, a wild elephant trampled a woman to death in Bangiriposhi area. The deceased was identified as Snehalata Sethi.
According to forest officials, the woman had gone to a river to fetch water when a herd of seven elephants were roaming nearby. One of the animals broke from the herd and attacked Snehalata. A woman accompanying the deceased was also injured in the incident.
