Elephants kill five people after locals throw stones 'to scare them off'

[Debasis Bose]

Five people have been trampled to death and one critically injured after wild elephants rampaged through a village in Eastern India.

Reports from AFP say four elephants broke away from their herd and entered the village of Bhatar in West Bengal state on Sunday morning.

West Bengal forest minister Benoy Krishna Burman said the elephants had been angered by the victims, who had thrown stones at them in attempt to scare them away.

He said that caused the elephants' deadly rampage, triggering widespread panic through the village.

Forestry officials were summoned to help, and one of the elephants, a male, died after being hit with a tranquiliser. The others, a female and two calves, ran away.

The West Bengal forest ministry are involved in Project Elephant, which aims to restore and protect the habitats of wild elephants, which experts say would reduce the risk of their entering villages.

In response to increased human-elephant conflict, the World Wildlife Fund has initiated a ‘flying squad’ in parts of Asia.

The squad is made up of a group of Asian elephants and their riders who are specially trained to ward off fellow elephants, drawing them away from crops and villages.

[Mrudul Godbole]

This is sad news, for both humans and elephants. I think as calves were present, the elephants might have attacked when people started throwing stones. Maybe making people who stay close to elephants habitats, aware about elephant behaviour, can help to reduce the conflicts.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

These elephants are hated and persecuted by three states West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha. The local forest department even assists the villagers in driving away the elephants to the neighbouring state. The constant tension, persecution, loud noise, blasting of crackers and occassional gun shots have made the elephants nervous and ready to attack. People often don't realise that these elephants despite their bulk can outrun all of us. Villagers not realising this move in close to throw stones and bombs and get attacked. Unfortunately they are branded as killer elephants though we have encroached on their land and migratory corridors and they have no where to go. The elephants are refugees in their own country. It may not take many more years for man to decimate this hapless God.