Bihar officials face 'mammoth' task pushing back Jharkhand

Pushing back two wild elephants that have strayed into Bihar from neighbouring Jharkhand is proving a mammoth task for the forest officials here.
The tuskers, which 'infiltrated' the state some four months ago, have thwarted every attempt at dislodging them and are now staying put in the forests of Jamui district with a few lakh rupees spent on "chasing" them away having gone waste.
Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) S S Chaudhary said the elephants, one standing at 13 feet and another 8 feet, sauntered into Bihar sometime in March from forests in Sahebganj and Godda districts of Jharkhand.

The pachyderms were first spotted in Naugacchia in Bhagalpur district in Bihar from where they went to populated areas in Madhepura district as ample water, maize and bamboo were available all along the route.
"Their presence in populated areas created much 'hungama' and we chased them. They criss-crossed riverine areas of Ganga and the Kosi and went into the forests in Banka district bordering Jharkhand. We chased them from there as well," Chaudhary said.
The tuskers out-witted and out-paced their chasers and went into the forests in Jamui district, which they have made their home for the last two months now.

An exasperated forest department hired a team of professional elephant chasers from a tribal community in Bankura district of West Bengal, but to no avail.

"The team of elephant chasers worked in close coordination with our officials for over 20 days, but failed and returned to their native place. They have been called again and have renewed their efforts to push them back to Jharkhand but the tuskers are not ready to go," Chaudhary added.
The officer said the elephants have not harmed anybody during their sojourn in the state so far. He said their staying here for so long while resisting attempts at pushing them back into Jharkhand points toward better conservation of forests, good soil moisture, easy availability of water and a better habitat for large animals.

He said the tuskers might have taken "refuge" in Bihar due to "disturbance" in their original habitat resulting from coal mining in the area.
"We would love to have elephants in our forests, but we cannot keep them as our jungles are small in size and people live around. I am just keeping my fingers crossed that they return to Jharkhand. We have asked people not to tease them while they are here, else they may go berserk," Chaudhary added.