Protection sought for rampaging elephants

MUMBAI, July 14 (UPI) -- Conservationists are calling for protection for a herd of 200 wild elephants that destroyed a couple of hundred homes in Nepal after migrating from India.

"There is tension in the area with the villagers threatening police and forest officials," Santosh Nepal of the World Wildlife Fund said.

Villagers in Nepal killed two of the elephants last week after the herd rampaged over homes in Nepal's Jhapa district, The Times of London online reported Tuesday.

The World Wildlife Fund, and other conservation groups, want Nepal and India to establish a compensation program that would pay for the damaged homes and help protect the elephants, The Times reported.

Those talks have been stalled by political unrest in Nepal, where Maoists in May resigned from key roles in a coalition government, The Times reported.