The Bardia National Park (BNP) has started a free bus service to ferry
students to a local school after one of the students was killed in an
elephant attack on Thursday.
Yuvraj Tharu of Patharwoji of Dhodari-1, a seventh grader at Tribhuvan
Secondary School was attacked by a wild tusker when he was returning
home from school.
He died while undergoing treatment at Kohalpur Medical College,
Nepalgunj on Thursday night.
The school is located in Suryapattuwa in the Dalla area, one of the
key biological corridors established in the national park and
buffer-zone areas.
“Students coming from nearby areas from different villages do not want
to go to school for the fear of being attacked by wile animals. So we
decided to arrange free bus service for their safety,” said Ramesh
Kumar Thapa, chief conservation officer of the BNP.
Around 50 students from different villages use the dense forest areas
and biological corridor to reach school.
Students can use the bus service provided by the party authorities to
reach school and return home.
Earlier, Paruwa Tharu, 72, of the Dalla area died after he was
attacked by an elephant.
According to Thapa, a team of security personnel including Nepal Army
and wildlife experts have been mobilised to control the situation.
The marauding male tusker was later darted and then released in the
community forestry area.
“We have requested the Department of National Parks and Wildlife
Conservation to issue permit to radio-collar the elephant to monitor
its activities and identify if it is the same elephant causing havoc
in the village time and again,” said Thapa.
People from Patabhar, Gola, Thakurdwara, Bagnaha, Neulapur and
Dhadabhar in the district live under continuous terror of tusker
attack.
The elephants that usually come out of the jungle in the evenings go
on the rampage, destroying houses.
It is estimated that there are around 100 wild elephants in the BNP.