Two wild elephants spotted near Brajabiharipur in Cuttack as (below) passers by look at the jumbo herd on Friday. Pictures by Badrika Nath das

Cuttack, Feb. 21: A herd of wild elephants was spotted again near a human settlement on the outskirts of the city here today.

The herd was seen near Brajabiharipur under ward No. 3 of Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) limits. It had strayed into the locality by crossing the Mahanadi river in the early hours.

The herd consisting of around 10 to 12 wild elephants, including a tusker, had entered a vast stretch of land near the proposed second campus site of Ravenshaw University, causing panic among local residents.

This is for the second time that in the last two months an elephant herd was spotted in Cuttack.

Earlier, a herd of 11 elephants had entered Hadiapatha, situated near an island on the northern fringes of the city in December last.

Forest officials suspect that it was the same herd that was earlier spotted near Hadiapatha, as usually the pachyderms do not forget the route easily if they are used to it.

Lack of adequate food might have forced the jumbos to try new areas on the outskirts of the city. Earlier, Mandapadapatha, on the other side of the Mahanadi near Choudwar, used to be one of spots where the elephants were being spotted at frequent intervals.

A group of locals had first spotted the jumbo herd near the Phasi Thakurani temple near Brajabiharipur in the early hours today.

“We had spotted the elephants at around 5am. However, a few forest officials were guarding the area to prevent any untoward incident,” said Prafulla Satpathy, priest of the temple.

Official sources said that the elephant herd was earlier spotted near Khuntuni forest reserve area yesterday. Later, the herd entered Brajabiharipur area near Dhabaleswar ghat by crossing the Mahanadi.

“It is suspected that the herd had moved to vast open land in search of food. Moreover, the movement of the herd is being frequently monitored and efforts will be taken to drive back the herd in late evening,” said forester Asit Mishra.

Adequate preventive measures were taken to ensure that the pachyderms do not enter the human settlements at CDA Colony, Naraj and National Law University.

However, the residents of Munda Sahi, Bali Bandha, CDA Colony were also panick-striken as the elephant herd was spotted near the human settlement for the first time.

“Earlier, an elephant was spotted near the same spot at Brajabiharipur three years ago. We are living in fear as over 10 elephants have entered the area,” said Sushil Behera, a local resident.

Behera said the herd had also destroyed various vegetable crops near Munda Sahi and Bali bandha areas in the morning today.