The fermented water and all the pots were missing when villagers in Odisha went to a jungle to manufacture local liquor. After drinking the fermented water, they discovered an elephant herd that was sound asleep.
In an Odisha foresh, up to 24 elephants drank “mahua,” a regional whiskey, and dozed out for several hours. A herd of elephants had already consumed the water fermented with the intoxicating flowers when villagers from a nearby village entered the forest to brew the liquor, and they discovered them asleep.
In the Keonjhar district, the villagers who live close to Shilipada Cashew Forest observed a total of 24 jumbos who appeared to be intoxicated sleeping close to where mahua blossoms were stored in water in huge pots for fermentation.
“Around six in the morning, when we walked into the woods to prepare mahua, we discovered that all the pots were broken and that the fermented water was vanished. In addition, we discovered that the elephants were dozing. They drank the fermenting water and became inebriated “A villager named Naria Sethi told the media.
“It was unprocessed alcohol. The animals were not awakened despite our best efforts. Then it was reported to the forest department, “Added he.
After arriving at the location in the jungle beneath the Patana forest range, forest department officers had to beat drums to awaken the herd. According to Ghasiram Patra, a forest warden, the elephants afterwards ventured far into the forest.
However, the forest officer is unsure if the elephants became inebriated after drinking fermented mahua. He speculated that perhaps they were simply dozing off.
However, villagers claimed that on Tuesday, they saw elephants snoozing in various locations near the broken pots while inebriated.
Prasanta Patnaik