Jumbos get high on local liquor, enjoy deep sleep in the forest of Odisha

A herd of elephants was found enjoying an excellent sleep session after apparently consuming Mahua flowers used to make a traditional local liquor in Shilipada cashew fields in the Patana forest range in the Keonjhar district of Odisha. Villagers, who came to process the liquor found that 24 jumbos have devoured the intoxicating flowers and were sleeping in a scattered manner. Villagers said, "We keep Mahua flowers for fermentation in large pots in the forest when we went to the forest to prepare Mahua, we found the pots were broken and elephants were sleeping. They consumed the liquid and were found in a drunken state." The forest officials, however, denied this and said "We are not sure whether the elephants were in an inebriated condition after consuming fermented Mahua or maybe they were just resting there."