Wild dogs flee as a herd of trumpeting elephants charge towards them to protect their calves

A herd of elephants have been captured fiercely protecting their young from a pack of wild dogs in South Africa.

Guide Brent Leo-Smith came across the stand-off in Djuma Private Game Reserve in the Sabi Sands, the north-east of the country.

The tour guide slowly follows the wild dogs from behind in a vehicle.

The dogs are heading down a path when suddenly the elephants appear from the bushes.

The nine dogs are outnumbered by their colossal opponents who start to roar and intimidate them.

The elephants group together and stand their ground as the dogs flee one by one.

Even the young calf charges with the elephants who then form a protective ring around the more vulnerable animal.

Elephants notoriously hate predators and were really not happy about the wild dogs being in their space.

Dogs hunt in packs but according to the tour guide, they are unlikely to kill elephants.

Mr Leo-Smith said: 'Wild dogs don't show any actual potential threat to the elephants, I've never heard of a wild dog attacking a baby elephant.

'But elephants react really negatively to any predator.'

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Jumbos trample man to death in Gomia

BOKARO: A man was trampled to death by a herd of elephants at
Koyotaad under Siyari Panchayat of Gomia block.

The herd of 12 elephants, including two calves, had entered the Koyotaad
village from Ramgarh a few days ago. It was only when villagers burst
crackers and raised an alarm, the herd ran away from the village.

R N Mishra, Bokaro divisional forest officer (DFO), said, “A quick response
team has been rushed to the spot and stationed there. We have provided
Rs 25,000 compensation to Shikha Devi, the deceased’s wife.” The
elephants entered the farm adjacent to Manjhi’s house at night.“In the
dark, he thought the calf was a buffalo and tried to chase it away. This
angered the elephants and they trampled Manjhi to death,” Mishra said. “It was after villagers reached the spot and raised an alarm that the elephants left the spot. Manjhi’s body was sent for post mortem. A forest team is keeping vigil on movement of herd to avoid such incidents,” the DFO added.

A forest team has alerted the residents in the area to remain indoors at night, if elephants enter their villages, and inform the quick response team immediately.

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Katie Morrison's fundraising campaign in aid of endangered elephants

A CONSERVATIONIST from Chester Zoo has embarked on a year of major challenges in aid of endangered Asian elephants and needs Globe readers' support.

Katie Morrison is part of the specialist team that cares for Chester Zoo's family herd of elephants, as part of a European endangered species breeding programme.

In a bid to help further the fight to prevent their extinction worldwide, Katie's 2019 will involve a major fundraising challenge every month, ranging from cycling events and mountain climbing through to a 'Go Sober' challenge in December.

Money raised will go towards the zoo's ongoing Never Forget campaign, which has already contributed more than £200,000 towards the search for a cure to a deadly disease, which is threatening elephants in the wild and in zoos globally.

Elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV) is known to be present in almost all Asian elephants, but only develops into an illness in some, usually young elephants. When it strikes, it is almost always fatal.

Asian elephants once lived widely across Asia, but their numbers have plummeted and they are now restricted to a fraction of their former range in the wild.

Less than 40,000 remain.

Devastated by habitat loss, poaching, disease and direct conflict with humans, the species is officially listed as endangered.

The zoo's scientists are leading the global campaign to find a cure.

The public donations, a major partnership between the zoo and The University of Surrey, and an international collaboration of conservationists have helped to make progress in the hunt for a solution to the crisis - but at the moment a cure to the virus remains elusive.

Katie hopes her year of personal challenges will increase awareness of the problem conservationists are facing, and generate additional resources towards the mission.

She said: "Here at the zoo, our elephant family has, tragically, suffered losses to EEHV. This terrible virus has claimed the lives of young elephants in the herd, which is devastating.

"We're caring for the species day in, day out as part of the conservation breeding programme.

"Our teams are protecting the species from human elephant conflict in the wild in India.

"Our scientists are leading the global search for a cure to the EEHV virus.

"Despite all this, as it stands, Asian elephants are still endangered. So I want to do more.

"We can all do our bit as individuals. Fundraising challenges like this are a great way that we can act for wildlife in our spare time.

"Initially I signed up to complete the half Ironman, but I kept thinking of more challenges I could do.

"Eventually, I thought I’d just devote my whole year to it!"

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Herd of elephants storms Indian village

A herd of around 80 elephants causes pandemonium in a village in Krishnagiri, southern India, storming through the centre and destroying houses. A group of villagers gathered to watch the elephants and started chasing the animals by throwing stones and making loud noises. The incident reportedly occurred after a young man taunted one of the elephants, angering it and causing it to chase him aggressively. The man fled, but started taunting the elephant from a safer distance. Animal activists have insisted that strong actions should be taken against individuals who tease wild elephants. The footage was shot on December 31, 2018.

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Foresters open fire to scare jumbo herd, nine suffer pellet injuries

MYSURU: Nine people suffered pellet injuries when forest personnel
opened fire to scare a herd of elephants closing in on a villager in
Chamarajanagar district’s Madhvanahalli in Kollegal taluk on Wednesday.

Of the nine injured, two were discharged after first aid at a Kollegal
hospital. The other seven injured were shifted to Mysuru’s KR Hospital for
a procedure to remove pellets from their body. They are out of danger, a
hospital source said.

Deputy conservator of forests (MM Hills Range) V Yedukondalu told TOI that 60 forest personnel headed out to Madhuvanahallli around 9am following a complaint about a herd of elephants menacingly moving around. “We wanted to send them towards BR Hills forests, but the majestic animals strayed towards a sugarcane field. At that time, a villager walked into the field with a pet dog. Elephants, then, started running towards the villager, forcing us to resort to firing in the air,” he added.

Attacks by wild animals are on the rise, say villagers
The cane grass was nearly 15ft high, with near-zero visibility. “When our staff fired in the air, pellets hit nine teenagers watching the operation from top of trees and rocks,” he said. Later, the forest department successfully sent the herd back to the forest.

Villagers said the elephants entered the village on Tuesday evening. Shailendra, a farmer, said attacks by wild animals have become common in the recent past and sought compensation for the affected families from the forest department.

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Elephants give sleepless nights to villagers

Vizianagaram: A herd of elephants which came into the villages of Kurupam and Garugubilli mandals in the district are creating a lot of trouble. In the past, a herd of seven elephants had entered into this area from Odisha in September and roamed in these mandals.

Even they had trampled the paddy crops and the farmers are scared to go into their paddy fields. The herd had injured two persons in G.L.Puram Mandal and Komarada Mandals.

Unfortunately, a calf was electrocuted in Artham village of Komarada Mandal. Later, the herd was sent away to some other places by the forest officials. But recently, the group came back again and started roaming in the fully-grown sugar cane and banana orchards, thus destroying them. Now, they have become a threat to farmers who are going to their fields.

The TRANSCO staff is disconnecting the power supply to the villages where the elephants are roaming as a precautionary measures to prevent their electrocution. The villages like Thotapalli, Santhoshapuram Nandivanivalasa and Gowripuram are some of the villages that are facing continuous power cuts for the past three weeks.

As a result, the people are facing lot of difficulties. The farmers who have lands near the roaming area of the elephants are not even able to to go to water their crops. G.Murali, a farmer of Nandivani valasa said, “Last week, our banana crop was damaged by the elephants. They have crushed around 20 trees and I lost around Rs.3000. We are expecting compensation from the government.”

At present, the forest department officials have deployed their staff to this area and they are advising the locals not to disturb those animals by igniting fire crackers and making huge sounds, even using flash lights like mobile phones, cameras.

Dr.D Parinaidu, executive trustee of the Jattu Trust said “The locals are facing trouble with the elephant menace. The farmers dare not to go into their fields as they are scaring with the animals. Even our village is facing frequent power cut with this reason. We are appealing to the concerned officials to solve the problem by diverting them into the forest. “

It has become a comfortable zone for the elephants as they are eating the sugarcane and swimming in water tanks and taking rest under the trees. So, they are reluctant to leave the area.

A senior forest officer said, “We are collecting details from farmers regarding the extent of crop damage and are sending proposals government for compensation. We are trying our level best to protect them from the public, vice versa. Soon, we will send them into the forest.”

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Panic as elephant herd raids Somayampalayam village

Saturday, December 8 - 1:55 PM India Times Coimbatore: While they are struggling to keep two wild
elephants off the villages on the Thadagam Valley, a herd of elephants that raided Somayampalay

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Man out to relieve himself trampled to death by elephants in ODF Jharkhand

A 61-year-old man was trampled to death by a herd of elephants on Thursday morning when he went out of his house to relieve himself in a village declared open defecation free (ODF) in Jharkhand’s Jamtara district.

The man identified as Rustam Ansari, a farmer in Narayanpur block’s Nurgi village, was reportedly suffered from a hearing problem. The village is around 230km east of state capital Ranchi.

Forest ranger officer of Narayanpur Arun Kumar Singh said the incident took place around 6.30am when he went to relieve himself in a farm, hardly 50 meters from his home.

Singh said the herd of 18 elephants, including four calves, has come from Tundi in Dhanbad district and entered the village on Wednesday night.

“Our team drove away the herd from the village post midnight. However, they returned to the village again in the morning and killed the old man while he was relieving himself,” Singh said.

After a protest by the villagers, the forest department handed over a cheque of Rs 25,000 to Ansari’s family and assured them they will give the compensation amount of Rs 4 lakh soon.

The incident has exposed the government’s claim of making Jharkhand an open defecation free (ODF) state. Chief minister Raghubar Das on November 15 declared rural Jharkhand ODF.

The government claimed that over 33 lakh individual toilets were constructed in rural Jharkhand in the past four years. In rural Jamtara, over 96,000 toilets were built during the period to achieve the ODF tag.

Villagers said even though toilets were built in the village a majority of residents still practice open defecation.

“Toilets are there in our houses. But, we are practising open defecation for several decades. How can we change the habit immediately?” Haroon Rafique, a villager, asked.

Ruksana Biwi, another resident of the village, said the toilet was very small, which causes difficulties.

Officials termed it lack of awareness and Narayanpur’s block development officer (BDO) Maheswari Yadav said there is a “100% toilet coverage” in the village.

“We came to know some people of the village still practising open defecation due to unawareness. We will soon launch an awareness programme in the village to ensure 100% toilet usage,” Yadav said.

There are 149 families comprising a population of 835 people in Nurgi village, according to the 2011 Census.

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Cow elephant found dead inside plantation

IDUKKI: A cow elephant was reportedly gored to death after it got into a
fight with a rogue tusker inside the KDHP Lakshmi Estate here on

Saturday. The carcass of the 14-year-old cow elephant was found by
plantation workers on Sunday morning.

Forest officials suspect it to be an attack by the tusker when the cow
refused to respond to its mating calls. Plantation workers said that they
had heard elephant roars on Saturday night.

The autopsy of the carcass will be conducted on Monday. Forest
department veterinary surgeon P Jayakumar, Munnar range officer M S

Suchindranath will lead the autopsy.

Suchindranath said that the actual cause of death can be revealed only after autopsy. “Presently we cannot conclude that the
death was connected to mating,” he said.

He also said that a herd of elephants had entered the plantation areas in the past two weeks.

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Odisha: Herd of elephants destroy crops, houses in Mayurbhanj

A herd of elephants destroyed crops and houses in villages of Mayurbhanj district in Odisha. More than 100 elephants came from West Bengal and Jharkhand. Reportedly, an elderly man was seriously injured and another one died after being attacked by an elephant. Residents in the villages ae living in fear after the attack.

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Herd of elephants electrocuted while hunting for food

A herd of elephants were electrocuted after coming into contact with low-hanging power cables while on the hunt for food. The elephants were part of a herd of about 15 that came near Kamalanga, a village in Dhenkanal district of Orissa state, India, on Saturday. The carcasses were spotted by villagers who then informed the forest guards.

Shocking video footage shows four elephants in the stream while three are lying on the path running along the bank.

The seven mammals were said to have heading towards the stream from a nearby paddy field. Reports said that they came in contact with sagging 11-kilovolt power cables. It is said to be the highest number of elephants killed in a single incident in Odisha’s known history.

Officials from the forest department visited the scene and organised the removal of the huge elephants’ bodies. A spokesperson called it ‘most sad’ and pointed a finger at the power department, accusing them of carelessness. The statement said: ‘We have lost seven elephants because of the central power company’s negligence.

‘The electricity authority was constantly being told about the low-hanging cables, both by forest department officials and local residents.’ According to reports, the state government has since suspended six officials and dismissed a junior engineer of the power company deemed responsible. Meanwhile, the forest department has suspended three staff members including the ranger of Dhenkanal pending their own investigation.

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Gang of 100 elephants raid Indian village looking for food

A massive herd of 100 elephants raided an Indian village near Kolkata looking for food yesterday (October 30).

Elephants step out of the forest and enter villages every year during the harvest season, forest officials urged people to not to keep paddy and traditional rice beer in their houses as these attracted the elephants.

Though the villagers moved their stock to safer places they were unable to stop the elephants from gorging on their standing crops. Farmers said the arrival of the elephants had destroyed their hopes of a good harvest.

After entering the Muruda village in Mayurbhanj district, Odisha, the herd broke up into smaller groups and headed in different directions

People complain that forest officials have failed to stop the herds from getting out of the forest.

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Elephant Herd Tramples Farmer To Death In Sundergarh

Sundergarh/Rourkela: A farmer was trampled to death by a herd of elephants at Modipara village under Rajgangpur forest division early today morning. According to sources, the man was attacked while guarding his farmland near the village. After getting information, forest department personnel rushed to the spot and recovered the body. In a separate incident, panic […]

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Tusker kills 10-yr-old

Rourkela: A 10-year-old boy was killed by an elephant on Wednesday night when he was sleeping with his mother in their house at Amurudi village in Sankhposh gram panchayat.

The deceased, Biswanath Munda, had lost his father two years ago.

A herd of elephants, which was roaming in the area, came nearer the village. One male elephant, aged about seven years, got separated from the herd and barged into the village. This lone elephant was searching for food, said villagers. "It was all alone and was apparently searching for food," said Samanta Munda, a villager.

The villagers came together to drive it away. In the process, the enraged elephant found itself in front of the house of the deceased. It suddenly barged in and broke down a portion of the kuchha wall. Biswanath's mother Shanti and the two children tried to escape from the scene. The younger child and the mother went in one direction and Biswanath went another way. However, he came face to face with the elephant and it lifted him with its trunk and banged on the ground.

Rourkea divisional forest officer Sanjay Swain said: "The villagers were in no position to do anything. The deceased's family has been given Rs 20,000 immediately for the boy's cremation. Another sum of Rs 3.8 lakh will be given to them within two months. We have given polythene to the family to cover the damaged portion of the house and another sum of Rs 2,000 to repair the house. Besides, we are also going to write to the collector to sanction Biju pucca ghar for the families, whose dwellings are damaged in such circumstances."

Biswanath is the 14th victim of elephant killing in the district this year.

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Jumbo herd kills one on Dalma fringes

Jamshedpur: A 45-year-old man was killed by elephants at Oppo village in Patamda, on the fringes of Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary, in the small hours of Friday.

Buddheshwar Singh, a resident of Jarka Tola in Oppo village, around 35km from here in East Singhbhum district, was trampled to death by a herd of elephants while he was guarding his farm around 4am.

Dalma range officer R.P. Singh, Kanderbera forester Prakash Chandra and his Bhadodih counterpart Tapan Kumar Mahto reached the spot after villagers informed them about the incident. "The incident took place around 4am. Singh was alone when the elephants attacked and killed him. Police have sent the body to MGM Medical College and Hospital for autopsy," he said.

The forest department has paid Rs 25,000 to the victim's wife, Shanthi Bala, for funeral expenses. "Another Rs 3.75 lakh will be paid after paperwork is completed. Elephant attack victims are given a compensation of Rs 4 lakh," the range officer said.

On Sunday last, forest authorities had alerted villagers that three separate herds having around 40 elephants were anchored in Patamda. The Dalma range office in Mango had also distributed crackers and torches among them.

The herds had left Dalma last month for their annual sojourn to the jungles of West Midnapore and Bankura in neighbouring Bengal. However, after reaching Dalbhumgarh and Ghatshila, they turned back and started heading towards Dalma via Patamda.

Normally, the elephants migrate to the neighbouring state in August-September and return in January-February. But, the noise of a gun battle between Maoists and paramilitary forces inside the forest forced an early migration.

Elephants had destroyed houses and standing crops in Patamda and also injured an elderly earlier this year. Herds go on the rampage in search of food and damage houses in the process.


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Heartbreaking moment terrified baby elephant cries in the street after becoming separated from its dying mother

This is the sad moment a wild elephant calf took its first trembling steps to a safe shelter in India after it was separated from its dying mother.

The five-month-old was found crying and wandering around a coffee plantation in Chinnakanal town near Munnar in Kerala.

When locals found it, the young animal seemed to be frightened of the unfamiliar surroundings.

A team of forest officials ascertained that there was a herd of six elephants including two calves located a kilometre away.

However, when the officers took the calf to the herd to 'reunite' them, they did not accept it - and the calf didn't appear to recognise the herd either.

The baby elephant was placed in a safe cage as rangers patiently waited for its mother. But when she did not turn up, a patrol was sent out to find her.

It was then that they stumbled upon the carcass of its lactating mother.

Nibu Kiran, Devikulam Range Office said: 'My team of officials were informed about the calf on Tuesday. They reached the spot, rescued the elephant and placed it in a temporary holding cage. It was fed liquids.

'We waited for its mother and tried to identify the herd that the calf belongs to and reunite them. Two separate elephant herds were roaming in the area and we tried to ascertain if it belonged to any one of them.

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