An elephant damaged the concrete wall of Sundar Tharu’s house in Ishwariganj Mahila Tole of ward 9 in Rajapur Municipality last year. Tharu and his family were unharmed as they were away attending a feast at a relative’s house at the time.

Following the incident, Tharu has been living elsewhere due to fear of elephants, said former barghar (traditional village head) Bishnu Chaudhary. He said elephants have damaged houses belonging to Devilal Oli, Sharmila Tharu, Mangal Thapa, Bishnu Devi Khatri and others in the village over the past year.

Elephants also destroyed wheat and mustard crops belonging to dozens of farmers, including Bishnu Devi Khatri, this week. Khatri said elephants damaged her crops four times in a row this week. “I no longer feel like going to see the fields,” she said. “Terror is not just about crops. It has become difficult to protect our lives.”

For over a decade, Ishwariganj, Shankarpur and the surrounding areas bordering India’s Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary have faced repeated wildlife attacks, causing loss of life and property. Locals said four people have been killed in elephant attacks in the area in the past ten years. Local Ghanashyam Khatri said there is hardly a day without sightings of elephants, tigers or leopards.

“We take turns staying awake after dusk because of wildlife entering the settlement,” he said. “This settlement was established under a programme to address the issues of landless people around 40 years ago, but residents of Mahila Tole live in constant fear.” He said that residents have yet to receive land ownership certificates from the authorities.

Locals said dozens of elephants enter the area at night, damaging crops and houses. An electric fence stretching about 22 kilometres from boundary pillar number 87 to 98 was installed at a cost of around Rs60 million from the constituency development fund.

However, the fence, built around 15 years ago to deter elephants and other wildlife, has now been damaged, with broken wires and poles. Senior forest officer Sunil Acharya of the Rajapur Sub-Division Forest Office said Bardiya National Park had installed the electric fence about a decade ago, but it could not be repaired after elephants damaged it. He said he had recently been transferred to the office and lacked further details.