Tuskers kill tribal youth in Kotturu mandal

A 20-year-old tribal youth was trampled to death by a herd of elephants on Saturday night in the reserve forest area under Ponnuturu village limits of Kotturu mandal.

The deceased was identified as Timpani Kumar, resident of Timpaniguda village under Rayala gram panchayat limits in the same mandal. According to the forest officials, Kumar along with a few others went to the outskirts of the village to see the wild animals, as they heard the news that four tuskers were moving around the village for the last two weeks.


On seeing Kumar and others on Saturday night, the pachyderms got irritated and started attacking them. While others managed to escape, Kumar could not escape and was trampled to death by the tuskers. The local people and officials traced his body on Sunday morning.



On receiving information, District forest officer (DFO) and in-charge for wild life wing Chalumuri Shanthi Swaroop, forest range officer V Somasekhar, forest section officer N Tirupathi Rao and Kotturu police rushed to spot.

The DFO handed over an assistance of Rs 10,000 to the family members of the deceased towards funeral charges. Kumar was the 10th person to be killed by elephants in the district since 2007. According to official sources, at present four tuskers are found at Ponnuturu and another eight are moving near Padali areas in the Agency.

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Elephant tramples 26-yr-old woman to death in Erode

Erode: A 26-year-old woman was trampled to death by an elephant in the forests of Sathyamangalam here on Tuesday night.

The victim was identified as Rajamani, of Kothanapuram near Kermalam. She, along with her husband Shivanna, 30, and daughters Abhi, 8, and Sindhu, 6, was heading to their village through the forest when the elephant attacked her.


“Rajamani and her family were returning from their relative’s house at Kollegal after attending a temple festival. Since they missed the last bus to their village, they started walking through a jungle path. When they reached Pailur Kalayankovil, an elephant started chasing them. Shivanna lifted both their daughters and started running. Rajamani followed him. However, the elephant trampled her,” the police said.

Shivanna went to the village and informed the villagers, who alerted the forest authorities. Soon, forest staff, along with the villagers, rushed to the spot and found Rajamani battling for life. She was rushed to the hospital, but died on the way.

Two days ago, an elephant had attacked a 54-year-old forester in the same locality at Kermalam. The elephant tossed over Rasaiah, 54, but didn’t attack him further. Rasaiha is undergoing treatment at Sathyamangalam government hospital.

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82 people killed, 55 injured in elephant attacks in Odisha, says Minister

Bhubaneswar: As many as 82 people were killed in separate elephant attacks till February 2018, Forest and Environment Minister Bijayshree Routray informed to Odisha Assembly on Wednesday in response to a question.

While 66 persons were killed in elephant attacks in 2016-17, as many as 82 people were killed and 55 others injured in 2017-18, the Minister said.

Standing crops in nearly 5,401.98 acres of land and 1,119 houses were destroyed in different parts of the state by herds of wild elephants.

Similarly, 143 wild animals including 11 elephants, 10 leopards, 1 tiger and 119 deer were killed by poachers during the last four years in the State.

The Minister informed that Odisha government had 522 anti-depredation squads and one Wildlife Protection Squad has been formed to put a check on poaching incidents.

“State Crime Cell has been constituted under CID, Crime Branch to nab the miscreants involved in the poaching of wildlife. All assistance is being provided to forest officials to put a check on smuggling and trafficking of wildlife animals and products with coordination from Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB),” the Minister said.

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Man-jumbo conflict rises in Assam

Guwahati: Wild elephants have trampled to death 149 people and damaged 1,880 hectares of crops in Assam in the past two years.

Environment and forest minister Pramila Rani Brahma told the Assembly on Thursday that 92 people died and 56 were injured in 2016-17 while 57 died and 19 were injured in 2017-18 in man-elephant conflict in the state.

Replying to a question by BJP legislator Ranoj Pegu, Brahma said elephants destroyed 634.6 hectares of agricultural land, affecting 1,208 families, in 2016-17. The figure rose to 1,246.1 hectares, affecting 2,194 families, in 2017-18. Altogether 3,546 houses - 1,752 in 2016-17 and 1,794 in 2017-18 - were damaged because of elephant depredation.

Two elephants were poisoned to death and one died of deliberate electrocution in 2016-17 while eight died of poisoning the next year, she said.

Pegu expressed concern over the man-elephant conflict that, he said, had assumed serious proportions in Dhemaji, Majuli, Jorhat, Golaghat, Sivasagar, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts.

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Example TitleRampaging elephant crushes man to death as terrified crowd flees during Indian religious festival

A man has been killed by an elephant at a religious festival in Kerala, India, after the animal suddenly ran rampage during a parade.

Graphic video footage shows the moment the elephant throws four people off its back, and gores and tramples its handler to death.

The angry bull elephant is seen tossing the dead body around on its tusks, before turning on another bull, as crowds of men, women and children flee for their lives.

 To read the full article, click on the story title

2 more killed as tuskers rage on

Davanagere: Two more farmers were killed and another two injured in an elephant attack in Channagiri taluk of Davanagere district on Friday. The elephants have killed four farmers in the last five days. The deceased are Eshwar Naik, 65, and Ramesh, 55, residents of Hosanagar under Basavapatna police station limits in Channagiri taluk.

Eshwar Naik was killed on the spot when the tusker attacked him while he was working in his field. Ramesh succumbed to injuries at a hospital in Shivamogga.

An injured Ganesh from Hosanagar was rushed to SS High-tech Hospital in Davanagere where he was operated upon. He is critical.

Ganesh has a spinal injury, his kidneys have been damaged and is on ventilator, said Dr Kalappanavar, the hospital director. Hanumantha Naik who sustained minor injuries is being treated at Davanagere District Hospital.

The two tuskers also damaged two motorbikes parked on the road side, killed a calf, and injured two buffaloes in a farm house.

The tuskers have separated and wandered off in different directions making the task of forest officials waiting to catch them more difficult, said Channagiri RFO Veeresh Naik. The tuskers travelled through the jungles of Tyavanagi, Kashipura, Doddaghatta, Hosur, Sulekeregudda, before stationing themselves at Hosanagar which has a lot of standing crops, the RFO added.

"We have deployed a drone to trace their movements. Revenue, police and forest officials are monitoring the movement of tuskers, he added. Two separate task force groups are monitoring the Basavapatna side and another one in Channagiri side to locate the tuskers," he added.

The RFO hoped the tuskers will enter Bhadra sanctuary after their trek through Mavinakatte and Joladalugudda forests.

The public have been advised not to harass or make loud noises which can enrage the elephants.

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Horrifying moment security guard, 40, is trampled to death by an elephant while trying to take a photograph of the animal.

A security guard was trampled to death by an elephant after getting out of his car to photograph the huge animal.

Sadik Rahman, 40, was driving to his work in the city of Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, India, when he came across the animal on the road.

It had brought traffic to a halt when it stepped out on to National Highway 31 and Mr Rahman decided to get out of his car to take a picture.

But he got too close and the elephant trampled him to death as shocked eyewitnesses looked on.

The shocking incident was caught on camera by onlookers on a major road near the village of Lataguri, close to Gorumara National Park, West Bengal, India.

Footage, later posted on video-sharing platforms, shows Mr Rahman's body lying in the road next to the animal which is seen kicking him with its feet.

After about 15 minutes, it wandered off into the forest but Mr Rahman had already died of his injuries at the scene.

A forest official said: 'Elephants are common in this area; they cross this highway almost every day and the custom is no one steps out of their vehicle. Sadik dared to confront the elephant and got killed.'

State forest department records reveal that 84 people were killed by elephants last year.

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Jumbo scare in Mayurbhanj

Baripada: Residents of Mayurbhanj district and wildlife personnel are spending sleepless nights because of jumbo menace.

Several herds of elephant have been wrecking havoc in Rairangpur for more than two weeks. If this was not enough, a tusker has added to the worry of the Baripada wildlife division for about a week.

The marauding jumbos besides raiding agriculture fields are also damaging houses and other establishments. In a desperate attempt to save their crop, the villagers are staying up throughout the night to ward off any jumbo attack.

Rairangpur divisional forest officer Kalunge Gorakh Waman said: "Two herds consisting of 24 elephants are moving in the area. A herd of 17 elephants, including one tusker are in Gorumahisani, and another seven are in Bisoi. But, they have not caused any causalities and efforts are on to chase them out."

In another development, a tusker, supposedly a member of a big jumbo herd residing close to Odisha-Bengal border, has sneaked into the state. The tusker, besides ravaging paddy fields, also damaged houses and an anganwadi centre. The tusker was spotted in Phalajhari forest under Betnati range on Thursday night.

"Around 120 elephants in different groups are moving in Chulunda forests under Chandbill range of Bengal about 5km from Odisha border. While a tusker got detached from the herd and has entered our area," said Deuli forest range officer Rabindra Mohanty.

Baripada divisional forest officer Swayam Mallick said: " The movement of elephants is being closely monitored."

"Our departmental personnel have been asked to follow the standard operating procedure to contain the menace and prevent loss of humans and wildlife," he said.

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Elephant tramples man to death who tried taking its photograph in Bengal

An elephant trampled to death a man who tried to take its photograph in Lataguri forest area in Bengal on Thursday afternoon, highlighting a harrowing instance of man-animal conflict.

The incident took place around 3.30pm in Lataguri forest area on National Highway 31 near the New Jalpaiguri-Alipurduar railway track, which is an elephant corridor.

As traffic stopped to allow the elephant to cross, Siddiqulla Rahaman, a 42-day-old security guard at a cooperative bank, got down from his vehicle and walked up to the animal to take its picture.

“It seemed Rahaman was inviting the tusker towards him. The elephant moved very slowly and he had time to run away,” said Ujjwal Ghosh the chief conservator of forest (wild life)-North, told Hindustan Times.

The police are awaiting a post-mortem report, said an officer in Jalpaiguri.

Another instance of man-animal conflict was witnessed in 2000, when a tiger killed a youth who entered an open-air enclosure by scaling the walls in Alipore Zoo of Kolkata.

In January 1996, a tiger killed a man, who entered its the enclosure at the same zoo.

The tusker population and man-elephant conflicts are on the rise in North Bengal. Though the preliminary report of the elephant census carried out till March this year was 480, foresters believe the figure would cross 550. The census figure is expected to be released early next year.

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Elephant human encounters rise in Jharkhand, 62 killed this year

Anurudh Kumbhakar, 38, a farmer in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district, was harvesting his paddy crop on Decembers 5 when an elephant grabbed him with its trunk, tossed and then trampled him. The poor villager, the sole breadwinner in a family of six, died a painful death.

The elephant herd, which had three baby elephants, is still staying back in the adjoining Chainpur Khas forest area located across Jharkhand-Odisha border.

Last month, elephants had killed five persons within a span of two days Jharkhand's Ranchi and Hazaribagh districts.

Though incidents of man-elephant conflict have always followed a predictable pattern in Jharkhand over the years, the current year has seen maximum confrontation between them.

In August this year, an elephant had to be shot dead after it killed as many as 12 persons in Sahibganj district.

Government ordering to kill an elephant was unprecedented even in Jharkhand where elephants have killed more than 600 persons in last one decade. The figure is scary. Simply put, the pachyderms have been killing a person in Jharkhand every sixth day.

The killer elephant, having separated from its herd and also lost path, had been roaming in the area.

Moreover, the attempt of the villagers as well as the forest officials to drive it away made it more infuriated. A gunner hired by the government shot the tusker dead on August 12.

The human and the elephants have overlapping territories in Jharkhand, leading to a bellicose relationship between the two.

Incidentally, with Maoists extremists largely on the run in Jharkhand, the marauding herds of wild elephants has emerged the biggest threat for civilians living in Jharkhand's rural zone.

The man-elephant conflict has intensified with shrinking forest. The large animals often venture inside human habitats in rural Jharkhand, which they ironically consider part of their territory.

Besides human settlements, the growing highways, train tracks, and mines continue to eat up forest areas, forcing the elephants to turn aggressive. Their search for food is bringing them closer to towns as well.

According to experts, constant human pressure at the forests has forced elephants to leave their homes in search of food, which in turn triggers conflict with locals.

The elephants usually require more than 500 kms of home range wherein they will hunt for the food. They consume nearly 150 kg of food and 150 litres of water a day for which the elephant herds migrate from one forest to another (corridors).

Naturally, they are worse hit by the loss of habitat, as traditional elephant sanctuaries are now home to human.

Worse still, the elephants are feeling a pressure on their habitat at a time their numbers have gone up in Jharkhand.

With their corridors continuously encroached by the villagers, the elephants wreak havoc when they move in search of food - raiding crops, knocking down houses and killing people-and leave behind a trail of destruction.

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Elephant tramples two to death. Man-animal conflicts ring safety alarm

A wild elephant trampled two men to death in Kalahandi district in the latest instance of man-animal conflict in the state.

The incident took place on Monday afternoon in the far-flung forest-side village of Thutikela under the Narla forest range limits. Forest and police personnel came to know about the incident on Tuesday.

The victims, Metha Majhi, 60, and Pitmabar Majhi, 55, were returning home from a fair at a nearby village when the tusker is said to have appeared from nowhere and trampled them to death, said a forest official.

The animal also picked them up with its trunk and flung them to the ground. The duo suffered serious head injuries and bled to death on the spot, the official said.

The spot, where the incident took place, is close to the elephants' habitation corridor. The animals frequently stray into agricultural fields nearby to feed on crops, and this leads to man-elephant conflicts, said Narla forest range officer Antarjami Das.

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Two trampled to death

Two people were trampled to death by a herd of elephants in Odisha's Kalahandi district, police said today.

The incident took place last night when three persons were passing through Kerbandi Reserve Forest in the district.

The deceased have been identified as Bihari Majhi and Maka Majhi of Therulu village under Narla block of the district, police said.

While the two died on the spot, the third person is likely to escape unhurt, they said.

Biswanath Lellammver, DFO, Kalahandi, said the legal heirs of the deceased will be given compensation as per the state government's provisions.

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Man Injured In Elephant Attack

Angul: A man was injured after being attacked by a wild elephant at Jhiliripali village under Dimaria panchayat in Angul district on Tuesday morning.

The victim was identified as Meenaketan Sahu.

According to reports, Sahu had gone out of his house to a nearby pond to answer nature’s call when he came across the lone elephant that strayed into the human settlement. Though he tried to flee the area, the animal chased and attacked him with its trunk and fled the area.

Hearing his cries, some locals rushed to the spot and admitted him to a local hospital for treatment.

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Udalguri village finds ‘banana solution’ to elephant menace

GUWAHATI: Desperate villagers along the India-Bhutan border in Udalguri district have found a way to stop wild elephant herds from devastating their agricultural lands and homesteads — by arranging banana plants for the jumbos to feed on. However, forest officials and conservation experts say while this might be an effective short-term solution to the problem of man-elephant conflicts, it might lead to bigger problems in the long run.

Udalguri district is one of the areas in the state most prone to human-elephant conflicts, with there being casualties on both sides every year. Elephant herds from Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh often descend on the villages here with the onset of the paddy harvest season.

At least five elephants and six persons have been killed here this year alone. While most human casualties come about when herds trample on villagers, elephants die by poisoning, electrocution or falling into deep ditches.

A local conservation activist, Nabajyoti Baruah, along with other villagers, are on a drive to grow and collect banana plants here. “In the early part of November, when a 100-strong elephant herd came to the Hatigor area, people were really scared. The herd broke into smaller herds and dispersed in different directions. The area is mostly tea garden area, and elephants started entering into narrow alleys of villages in search of food. We thought why not arrange banana plants so that elephants can feed on them without venturing into the villages,” Baruah said.

Francis Tanti, a resident of Hatigor, said people from different areas have come on board with the plan and started collecting banana plants in large numbers. “Baruah, along with others, started collecting banana plants from different parts of Udalguri on tractors. The banana plants were put at a place far from human settlements. After feeding on the banana plants, the elephants left the area. This strategy helped,” Tanti said.

However, forest officials and other conservation experts are not enthusiastic about this strategy, saying it might increase conflicts if the elephants get used to ‘pre-arranged fodder’.

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Two killed in elephant attack

Two persons were killed in elephant attack at Terlo forest under Narla forest range in Kalahandi district on Monday night.

They were identified as Bihari Majhi and Taka Majhi.

In a separate incident, a jumbo herd entered the human settlements in Silapuria village under Betanati forest range of Mayurbhanj district and destroyed four houses.

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Wild elephants help Swachh Bharat cause in Bengal, force villagers to build toilets...

Summary: The department wants to complete the project in three years, which, it hopes will help elephants remain confined to forest areas. People scampering indoors have, in turn, helped reduce the number of casualties in elephant attacks in south Bengal. The number of people killed in elephant attacks in south Bengal have come down from 32 in 2016 to a mere six this year so far. The frequent deaths prompted many to build toilets in their homes,” said Rabindranath Saha, district forest officer of Midnapore division. The forest department has also installed solar lights in vulnerable areas so that people can spot the elephants from a distance and save themselves.

Elephants have achieved what the combined might of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Mamata Banerjee could not. Frequent advertisements and intensive campaigns on Swachh Bharat and its Bengal equivalent, Nirmal Bangla, could not convince many to relieve themselves behind closed doors but fear of elephant attacks has driven them away from the fields and open, especially in the districts of West Midnapore, Bankura and Jhargram, forest officers told HT. People scampering indoors have, in turn, helped reduce the number of casualties in elephant attacks in south Bengal. The number of people killed in elephant attacks in south Bengal have come down from 32 in 2016 to a mere six this year so far. Read: Tackling man-animal conflict: Bengal govt plans elephant museum “Many people died in elephant attacks when they went to forests early in the morning or after sunset to respond to the call of nature. The frequent deaths prompted many to build toilets in their homes,” said Rabindranath Saha, district forest officer of Midnapore division. The forest department, too, built a few community toilets , As Reported By Hindustan Times.

According to the Newspaper,“In our area, we constructed more than 10 community toilets at strategic points. We are also building toilets in some houses. We have a number of such proposals at hand,” Saha added. Every year, herds of elephants from Dolma range of hills in Jharkhand come to Bengal and roam around in these districts destroying life, crop and property. Bengal has not implemented Swachh Bharat and has its own Nirmal Bangla (clean Brngal) equivalent.

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Elephant kills man in Rudrapur area

Man elephant conflict continues to rage in Uttarakhand. In two separate incidents, one person was killed while a few others were injured when attacked by elephants.

In a bizarre incident in Udham Singh Nagar district, a man was trampled to death by an elephant in the Rudrapur area. Victim Ashok was returning to his house after work when he was chased by an elephant, who subsequently trampled him to death.

In another incident in Haridwar district, a forest guard, a police jawan and a home guard jawan were injured by an elephant. The incident happened when an elephant strayed into the BHEL area. On getting know of the elephant’s entry into the habitation, forest guards rushed to the site of the incident and tried to shoo away the animal towards the forest area. A forest guard, Pratap Singh, was also injured by the agitated elephant. Another police jawan, Bhola Ram, who tried to intervene, was also injured by the animal.

After shots were fired into the air, the elephant rushed towards the Vishnulok Colony in Haridwar where it attacked a home guard Jawan, Uday. To make matters worse, some elephants strayed into the Roshanabad area o. Forest guards had to make efforts to force the animals back into the forest.

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