Wild Elephants Disrupt Traffic on Haridwar Highway Amid Rising Human-Wildlife Conflict

The elephants unexpectedly emerged from the forested boundaries of Rajaji National Park.

Haridwar:

Occurrences of wild elephants wandering into populated areas are becoming increasingly common in Uttarakhand's Haridwar district, sparking worries about escalating human-wildlife conflict in the area.

In a recent incident, a group of six elephants suddenly appeared from the forest edges of Rajaji National Park and ventured onto the crowded Haridwar-Laksar highway, causing traffic to halt for several minutes.

Drivers and pedestrians promptly cleared the roadway and waited as the herd crossed. Footage of the incident displays the elephants moving in formation, passing by shuttered roadside establishments and proceeding toward nearby residential zones. Some individuals used vehicle headlights to encourage the animals to move along. While most of the herd continued into adjacent fields, one elephant lingered on the road briefly before eventually departing.

Human-elephant conflict has been a persistent issue in Uttarakhand. Elephants regularly leave their forest habitat searching for food and invade agricultural fields, consuming and damaging crops. Despite efforts by the Forest Department, preventing these intrusions remains difficult, leaving local communities to exist under constant threat of elephant encounters.

In November, a wild elephant attacked and fatally injured a 12-year-old boy near Rishikesh. Forest officials reported that the child was traveling on a scooter with his parents along an unpaved route through the Kalu Wala forest region, heading toward their home in Jolly Grant, when the elephant charged at them.

The elephant used its trunk to lift the child, who was positioned between his parents, and repeatedly slammed him against the ground. The elephant eventually retreated back into the forest. The parents rushed their son to a medical facility in Jolly Grant, where medical professionals pronounced him deceased.