Foresters from the Kurseong forest division successfully relocated a herd of elephants from the Tukuriajhar forest range to the Bagdogra forest range on Thursday evening, preventing potential depredation and man-elephant conflict in the forest fringe areas.
Devesh Pandey, the divisional forest officer of Kurseong forest division, said the large-scale elephant-guiding operation was undertaken to move the herd safely out of the Tukuriajhar habitat.
“The Tukuriajhar forest is not suitable for elephants. Moreover, the area is surrounded by villages, which increases the risk of elephants straying into human settlements. To prevent possible conflicts, we conducted a relocation drive to move around 100 elephants to the forest of the Bagdogra range,” explained Pandey.
According to sources in the department, the foothill ranges of the division
are among the most vulnerable areas for elephant depredation in fringe villages. Foresters remain on high alert throughout the year—particularly during the paddy harvest season, which starts late October— to prevent raids and mitigate human-elephant conflicts.
A forester involved in the wildlife management operation said the drive began around 11.30am on Thursday and continued across forests, tea plantations, rivers, railway tracks, the Asian Highway II, and nearby communities before the elephants were successfully guided into the Bagdogra forest by 6:30pm.
More than 100 forest guards and members of the joint forest protection committee participated in the project, while around 25 vehicles were deployed.
“The operation was a coordinated effort involving staff from the Tukuriajhar, Bagdogra, Panighata, and Ghospukur ranges, as well as the elephant squad stationed in Bagdogra,” a forest official said.
The relocation was led by foresters — including Samiran Raj, Sambarta Sadhu, Suraj Mukhia, Manas Kanti Ghosh, and Pramit Lal.