Elephant herd tramples farmer to death in Jharkhand
The New Indian Express
January 31, 2025
See link
https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2025/Jan/31/elephant-herd-tramples-farmer-to-death-in-jharkhand
for photo.
RANCHI: A farmer was trampled to death by a herd of elephants in the
Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand. The incident took place at Baheri village
under Sadar Block of the district at around 1 am on Friday.
The deceased has been identified as Chhotu Mahato, 57, son of Somar Mahato.
According to Mukhiya of Baheri Panchayat, Pawan Kumar Yadav the deceased
had a temporary house outside the village near his fields and was earning
his livelihood by season-based farming. Very often he used to stay in the
house near his fields as and when required.
On Thursday night, he was with his wife in his house built in the field.
“All of a sudden at around 12:00 in the night, a herd of elephants entered
Chhotu Mahto's fields and also destroyed the house built by him. Out of
panic, he started running away from there. Meanwhile, an elephant lifted
him with his trunk and knocked him out. Later they also trampled him to
death,” said the Mukhiya.
His wife somehow managed to save her life by hiding herself behind the
walls, but Chhotu Mahto died on the spot, he added.
The Mukhiya further added that for the last week, a herd of elephants has
been roaming around and destroying the standing crops in the region but the
Forest Department did not take any concrete action in this regard.
Meanwhile, financial assistance of Rs 25000 has been given by the Forest
department as an immediate relief to the deceased’s family. The department
has also warned the local people to stay away from the herd of elephants.
The situation still remains critical as the herd of elephants is still
present in the forests and is entering the villages during the night in
search of food. The people residing in the region are demanding relief from
the terror of elephants from the forest department.
According to data available from the forest department, out of the total of
24 districts, 20 districts have elephants, due to which, on average 80
people are killed, while over 150 suffer injuries in man-elephant conflict
every year in Jharkhand.
Admitting that humans have intruded into the elephant corridor resulting in
an increase in man-elephant conflicts in recent years, the state government
has launched an elephant tracking app 'Jharkhand Elephant Tracker' which
can be downloaded from Play Store.
Besides informing people about exact location of the elephants, this app
also helps people in making preparations to deal with the menace. An
integrated alarm mechanism has also been introduced into the app wherein
alarms are sent through SMS and WhatsApp to villagers as soon as an
elephant enters within a 5 km radius of their villages.
https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2025/Jan/31/elephant-herd-tramples-farmer-to-death-in-jharkhand
Elephant herd tramples farmer to death in Jharkhand
The New Indian Express
January 31, 2025
See link
<https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2025/Jan/31/elephant-herd-tramples-farmer-to-death-in-jharkhand>
for photo.
RANCHI: A farmer was trampled to death by a herd of elephants in the
Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand. The incident took place at Baheri village
under Sadar Block of the district at around 1 am on Friday.
The deceased has been identified as Chhotu Mahato, 57, son of Somar Mahato.
According to Mukhiya of Baheri Panchayat, Pawan Kumar Yadav the deceased
had a temporary house outside the village near his fields and was earning
his livelihood by season-based farming. Very often he used to stay in the
house near his fields as and when required.
On Thursday night, he was with his wife in his house built in the field.
“All of a sudden at around 12:00 in the night, a herd of elephants entered
Chhotu Mahto's fields and also destroyed the house built by him. Out of
panic, he started running away from there. Meanwhile, an elephant lifted
him with his trunk and knocked him out. Later they also trampled him to
death,” said the Mukhiya.
His wife somehow managed to save her life by hiding herself behind the
walls, but Chhotu Mahto died on the spot, he added.
The Mukhiya further added that for the last week, a herd of elephants has
been roaming around and destroying the standing crops in the region but the
Forest Department did not take any concrete action in this regard.
Meanwhile, financial assistance of Rs 25000 has been given by the Forest
department as an immediate relief to the deceased’s family. The department
has also warned the local people to stay away from the herd of elephants.
The situation still remains critical as the herd of elephants is still
present in the forests and is entering the villages during the night in
search of food. The people residing in the region are demanding relief from
the terror of elephants from the forest department.
According to data available from the forest department, out of the total of
24 districts, 20 districts have elephants, due to which, on average 80
people are killed, while over 150 suffer injuries in man-elephant conflict
every year in Jharkhand.
Admitting that humans have intruded into the elephant corridor resulting in
an increase in man-elephant conflicts in recent years, the state government
has launched an elephant tracking app 'Jharkhand Elephant Tracker' which
can be downloaded from Play Store.
Besides informing people about exact location of the elephants, this app
also helps people in making preparations to deal with the menace. An
integrated alarm mechanism has also been introduced into the app wherein
alarms are sent through SMS and WhatsApp to villagers as soon as an
elephant enters within a 5 km radius of their villages.
https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2025/Jan/31/elephant-herd-tramples-farmer-to-death-in-jharkhand