A
wild elephant was on a rampage – but something stopped his attack.
In
a West Bengal village in India, a wild elephant (a tusker) had reportedly
killed three people. A local forest ranger said the elephant had also damaged
17 homes in three villages in the past year (Times of India, reported in Canberra
Times, March 14, 2014).
Conflict
between humans and elephants in the Purulia district of West Bengal has risen
over the past few years due to changing land-use patterns blocking the
elephants’ traditional migration routes. Herds of elephants still try to use
their traditional routes, stampeding and attacking farms and villages,
resulting in damaged crops and houses.
The
wild elephant was on a rampage on Monday when it stopped to protect a crying
baby. The baby’s parents were having dinner in the evening when the elephant
crashed into their home. Their 10-month-old baby was in her cot, filled with
debris from the collapsed wall.
The
elephant began to move away, but turned back when the child cried. It stopped
to carefully unearth the baby beneath the rubble. The Times of India reported
that the elephant removed every stone, brick, and mortar from the cot to
uncover the baby before heading back to the forest.
The
parents took the baby girl to hospital where she was diagnosed with external
injuries from the falling debris, but was ‘in no danger.’ The lone male
elephant was last seen in a nearby forest on Tuesday.
MARTINA NICOLLS is an international
aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different
in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament
(2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a
Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
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