A herd of 35 elephants, which had migrated from Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary to Bengal forests around five months back and was supposed to stay put in the neighbouring state till February next year, have come back early on Sunday.

The herd, including tuskers and calves, slipped into the sprawling 192 sq km sanctuary, 30 km from Jamshedpur, in the wee hours of Sunday and is presently stationed inside a jungle. The herd seems to have returned early in search of food.

A forester said the elephants have taken a circuitous route to Dalma Sanctuary. The herd first stayed at Kharsawan for some days before heading to Saraikela and then to Chandil before coming home. “The elephants usually stick to their migratory corridor but the trend has changed this time,” he said.

Dalma range officer (West) Dinesh Chandra confirmed the early homecoming of the elephants. “Dalma jumbos usually leave for the jungles of West Medinipur and Bankura in Bengal in August-September and are back in January-February. The jumbos are welcome home,” he added.

Besides coming home early, the elephants had also migrated to Bengal about a month earlier (in July). “The jumbos generally catch the corridor to Dalma after harvesting season ends in Bengal. However, elephants are moody animals and move as per their whims and fancies. More elephants should be back in the days to come,” another forester said.

According to him, they have asked the trackers (village youths recruited as daily wagers to keep a tab on the movement of elephants and other animals) to keep an eye on the jumbos and inform about their movement to the forest range office in Jamshedpur. They have also been issued instructions to remain alert and prevent jumbos from venturing into villages inside the sanctuary. Forest patrol will also be intensified,” he informed.

The villagers have already been handed over firecrackers and mashals (torches) to keep elephants at bay. The jumbos often barge into farms to damage standing crops which results in man-animal conflict.

Meanwhile, a herd of 8 elephants wiped out vegetables from farms in Saparum village in Kharsawan in the wee hours of Monday. The villagers could not do anything out of fear and watched carrots, radish and harvested paddy being wiped out by the hungry elephants.

Most of the villagers remained consigned to their homes at night. The forest team is trying to steer the herd back to the jungles. “We don’t come out of our homes late in the evening. The herd can attack us. The elephants are rampaging our farm,” said Shibu Tantubai, a farmer and resident of Saparum.