Wild elephants have been wreaking havoc at Thakurbaba and Rajapur areas in Bardiya district for the past one week.

Police said the elephants believed to have entered the settlements from Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary of India and Bardiya National Park (BNP) have destroyed more than a dozen houses and damaged wheat planted on 50 bighas of land in Thakurbaba Municpality-2 and Gulariya Municipality-10 in a week.

Superintendent of Police Janak Bhattarai said the elephant invasion has been non-stop for the past one week.

Locals claimed that the authorities have not done enough to stop the recurring menace of wild elephants in the area.

Six persons were killed and six others were maimed in separate attacks of elephants in the district last year.

According to the BNP, 100 houses and crops planted on 60 bighas of land were destroyed by wild elephants in Bardiya in the last fiscal year.

Locals have long been demanding the authorities to install electric fence to keep wild elephants at bay.

Ashok Kumar Bhandari, the BNP acting chief conservation officer, said that they have been deploying patrol team to chase elephants away whenever elephant invasions are reported. But since most incidents take place during night, such measure will not work, locals said.