Angul: The 30-year-old tusker, which had killed three persons last month, has once again been attacking people in Khamar and Talcher forest ranges for the past two days.
It has killed one person and injured another in two separate incidents in the past two days.
On Saturday night, Tikhil sahu, 54, of Parachhahat village was returning home when he came across the tusker. It hit him with his tusk, injuring him seriously. He has been admitted to SCB. On Sunday, the animal entered the Talcher range and trampled one Gopabandhu Behera, 45, of Bedibahal village to death when he had gone to the nearby forest along with two villagers to collect wood. Talcher range officer Trilochan Behera said Gopabandhu's friends had managed to escape.
Officials said that on December 11, the tusker trampled one Jayakrishna Nayak to death while the victim was attempting to take selfie at Sankhpur forest. On December 16, the it killed one Ujjala Behera while she had gone to collect mahua flower from the forest. Two days later, one Palak Boita of Bedasra village was fatally attacked, according to Khamar range officer Sukesh satrusalya.
"The incidents have sent panic waves in the Khamar and Talcher ranges. The tusker is still at the border area of Talcher. We are trying to drive him out of the area," said the Talcher ranger.
Wildlife Society of Orissa, in a memorandum to the principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) and chief wildlife warden, urged for immediate steps to stop loss of human lives.
"The repeated attacks on human lives has created a panic situation in the area. Failure to control the particular elephant may result in retaliation by the villagers, who may invite poachers to kill tuskers and result in violent attacks on department employees," the society secretary contended while urging for setting up a dedicated special squad for the tusker.
"We also request to deploy a tranquillisation team located at Angul," he further urged, adding that "since the tusker is suspected to have already claimed four lives and injured one, it is necessary to control him now before he kills again".
