This monsoon may present challenges for forest department officials in the eastern districts of Gadchiroli and Gondia because the herd of 23 elephants from Chhattisgarh that wandered into Maharashtra has not returned home as it did last year. They are currently at Navegaon, Gondia. Due to recent visits by a tusker from Chhattisgarh, which is not one of the 23, experts believe that the pachyderms’ corridor is extending westwards into Maharashtra.

Sagnik Sengupta, co-founder of the NGO Stripes and Green Earth Foundation, which has been assisting the Maharashtra forest department in tracking the elephant, said, “For the first time, on May 12, a lone tusker from Chhattisgarh strayed into Bhamragad, Gadchiroli, which was a completely new area for it. After two days, it went back to Chhattisgarh. We could identify the elephant, ME03, from videos using the database of Wildlife SOS, which has been monitoring the herds in central and southern Chhattisgarh. His left tusk tip is broken, which could be seen in videos and the database picture.”