Wild elephants stray into Tezpur town

Tezpur: Wild elephants strayed into Tezpur town of Assam's Sonitpur district on Friday triggering panic among residents, a senior forest official said.

The herd of 11 jumbos, including three calves, migrated from Kaziranga National Park and entered the town last night, Divisional Forest Officer Sonitpur West Division Narayan Mahanta told PTI.

The herd was now in ward no. 2 of the town as forest officials kept a tab on their movement.

"The behavior of the herd indicated that they had migrated from Kaziranga," Mahanta added.

A team of forest and police officials made efforts to safely drive away the herd from the locality.

Meanwhile, another herd of elephants migrated from Sonai Rupai Sanctuary amd rampaged Sessa Tea Estate area under Rangapara Police Station of Sonipur district for the past one week, forest officials said.

The herd destroyed 17 houses, four shops, one anganwadi centre and portion of a temple there.