The wild male elephant 'Makuna' has now left the forest and is frequented by tourists and locals on the pitch of Sauraha. A video of a dog barking and people shouting after seeing a forest elephant near the ticket counter of the park in Sauraha is now circulating on social media.
After the forest elephants started walking on the busy main road of Sauraha, where tourists from abroad are attracted, the locals are panicking. That's why we held a meeting with stakeholders on Thursday. We have taken various decisions to ensure that the elephants don't get excited and do no harm,' said Conservation Officer Sant Magar, who is the head of Sauraha, Eastern Sector Office of Chitwan National Park.
Vimita Bhandari, a tourist guide who lures tourists to the park, was near the ticket counter of Sauraha around 10 am on Wednesday. She saw Makuna there. Makuna is a beardless male elephant. This elephant has been seen in the eastern area of Chitwan Park since the second week of November last year.
This elephant, which is seen sporadically in the forests of eastern Nepal, appeared in Chitwan for the first time. Although it is certain that the elephant is Makuna, there is also a discussion in Sauraha that it is completely wild or someone kept it at home and left it. This was also discussed in Thursday's meeting. In Chitwan, there was a wild male elephant named Romeo, Nana Patekar.
Even now, wild male elephants named Ronaldo, Dhrube, Govinde roam the Chitwan Park area. Other male elephants do not appear in the settlement during the afternoon or early morning. Even if he came at night, he would return to the forest without any human activity. But Makuna stays in the village till 10/11 am,” said Dipendra Khatiwada, a tourism businessman from Sauraha.
Wild male elephants enter the village looking for home-bred female elephants. He is also the chairman of the United Elephant Management Cooperative, which was opened by elephant operators used in jungle safaris, and says that in addition to cohabiting with female elephants in private elephant farms in Khatiwada Park, Sauraha, they also enter forest elephant settlements to eat their feed and straw.
'But this Mukna is well lit and walks from the main road even at 9/10. I have seen him walking and running on the road since Tuesday. At 6 o'clock in the evening, it enters the settlement. He stays here till dawn," said Khatiwada. Tourism businessman Srilal Periyar says that tourists are happy when they see forest elephants on the road. But there is also a risk that an accident may occur if the elephants become angry or angry due to the commotion. Forest elephants do not always come. They appear after August and last until January.
This makuna came last year in November and stayed here until January. Elephants come and go. Yes, you should not yell, tease, be careful. It would have been better if the park administration had planned accordingly," said Pariyar. Sant Magar, conservation officer of the park, says that it is prepared.
It has been decided to deploy the park administration, security forces and intermediate community forest rangers to regularly monitor the elephants. We have arranged for vehicles and fuel. We will not allow the crowd of people to see an elephant on the road. "We will stop people from going to the place where the elephants are," said Sant Magar, the conservation officer. He said that the park has planned to dart elephants if necessary.
