Wildfire forcing gentle giants to flee native forests

BHUBANESWAR: The raging wildfire across forests in the State have begun to impact the wildlife, forcing an animal exodus from the affected pockets to safer areas.In a visible development, forced migration of elephants from their native forests to other parts has been observed in different areas. Elephant herds have been seen moving from the forest areas of Cuttack, Athagarh and parts of Angul to the less-affected Dhenkanal division to escape the flames. 

Dhenkanal forest division sources said, the forests in the district have seen an increasing concentration of elephants in the recent days. There were around 36 herds with 182 elephants in the division on March 8, which increased to 37 herds with 198 elephants on March 10 and 38 herds with 208 elephants on March 11, said an official. 

At least 10 elephants from Athagarh area moved to Dhenkanal division two days back due to forest fire incidents, the sources added. “We are witnessing such activities in parts of Kapilash range as well, where poachers and miscreants are trying to divert the fire lines,” the  official said. 

The large concentration of elephants has thrown added challenges for the forest staff at field level in the division that is struggling with shortage of manpower. The division is at least 53 forest guards short against the sanctioned strength. Besides, the protection squad members have now been mostly mobilised to control forest fire. 

Officials said that keeping track of such a large number of herds in the middle of wildfire crisis would have been more difficult had it been a crop harvesting season. For effective management of the situation, the division has started monitoring forest fires and tracking elephant movements using drones equipped with thermal imaging technique. 

Contacted, DFO Prakash Chand Gogineni said all efforts are being made to track movement of the herds. At least, 25 elephant trackers are working on the field to monitor the movement of elephants, while anti-depredation squads are also active on the field,” he said.  The DFO said the division recorded concentration of 192 elephants in different herds on Friday.