Kanchanpur, December 3

Sundari Chaudhary,35, of Belauri Municipality, Kanchanpur lost her life after a herd of elephants attacked her at the municipality a month ago.

The elephants attacked her while she was returning home from a local market Cahandev Bazaar along with her husband Aasharam in a bicycle through the jungle.

Aasharam fled from the scene, and survived the attack.

Elephants from the border at Dudhuwa National Park have reportedly been entering the municipality, terrorising villagers and destroying crops. A local Rajaram Chaudhary said that villagers were living in fear of elephant attacks that have increased in frequency this year over previous years.

Wild elephants have entered human settlements at Punarbas Municipality, Sitabasti, Parasan, Tribhuvan Basti, and Janak Basti. Local farmers said that the elephants have destroyed crops cultivated on around 100 bigahas of land.

Local villagers said that the elephants have destroyed sugarcane fields in wards no 1, 2, and 3 of Punarbas Municipality. Man Bahadur Khatri, a local sugarcane farmer, said that the elephants came at night from the national park and destroyed around 25 bigahas of sugarcane farms.

The International Human Rights Organisation carried out a study on the issue in coordination with the Food-first Information & Action Network Nepal, and representatives from Germany and India at the affected areas recently.

Programme Coordinator of FIAN Nepal Prakash Negi said that a joint team of the District Forest Office, Kanchanpur and the District Police Office, Kanchanpur had held discussions on the consequences of the attacks and precautions against them among the locals of Punarbas, Baise, Bichhayan, Bhimswati, Parasan, Bichphanta, and other areas. He informed that the team had also held discussions with chiefs of the District Administration Office, the District Forest Office and other stakeholders.