Bhubaneswar: Frequent movement of elephants, including a herd of four jumbos that has camped itself, in the Chandaka-Damapara Wildlife Sanctuary has elated forest officials area.

The elephant census conducted last November had revealed presence of only one elephant in the sanctuary, raising fears that the jumbos were abandoning the habitat.

While a group of around 20 elephants roamed in the sanctuary in February, March and April, several others have been migrating between Chandaka-Athagarh and Chandaka-Balugaon in the recent past.

According to statistics, the sanctuary had 83 elephants in 1999. The number kept steadily decreasing with the last census revealing the presence of only a single elephant.

Divisional forest officer, Chandaka, Kedar Kumar Swain said several measures for habitat restoration of the elephants had been taken.

"Apart from the two important water reservoirs - Dears and Jhumka - we created rainwater harvesting structures inside the sanctuary. Similarly, its fodder stock was also increased during the monsoon. We have strengthened fencing around the sanctuary border to prevent elephants from straying into human habitations," he said.