When elephants and humans clash over land

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.

http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/life-style/family-entertainment/killer-elephant-halts-rampage-to-save-baby-girl-20140314-34r3g.html

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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