Baripada, Nov. 3: The wildlife division has deployed horses to chase away elephants that enter Mayurbhanj and Balasore districts from the neighbouring states of Bengal and Jharkhand.

The elephants generally migrate to these districts during the paddy harvesting season and cause large-scale damage to standing crops and destroy houses of the villagers. Several cases of people falling victims to elephants have also been reported.

The wildlife department is already using two horses to chase away elephants at vulnerable points on the border. One more horse is also being brought and would be pressed into service soon.

The range officer of Betnoti, Basant Mohanty, said: "The elephants do not like the odour that emanates from horses and also hate the neighing sound made by them. That is why horses would act as a perfect repellent for elephants. Each horse is being hired at Rs 25,000 per month. Two horses had already been deployed and one more is going to be put on duty soon. We are doing this for the first time and will take care of the horses for the next three months."

"A few years ago, a person in Tilda village in Betnoti had used a horse to protect his nursery from the invasion of elephants. It worked very well. That is why we have now decided to hire horses along with their trainers to chase away the ever-rising number of elephants," Mohanty said.

The elephants that sneak into Mayurbhanj go as far as Kuldiha sanctuary in Balasore through Rasgobindapur and Betnoti despite the heavy presence of trenches and energy fencing. During their sojourn of 45 to 60 days, the jumbos invariably cause large-scale damage to harvested crops. Last year, the elephants also killed five persons.

The divisional forest officer of Baripada, Sanjay Swain, said: "The horses have been hired on an experimental basis. We have around 30km -long trench between Moroda and Suliapada and solar fencing of the same length between Deuli and Rasgobindapur."

Swain said that though the forest department was hopeful of horses helping chase away elephants, it will continue to use other conventional means of chasing them away such as by beating drums and bursting crackers.