Elephant kills 72-year-old farmer in Bankura (State of West Bengal, India)
Elephant kills 72-year-old farmer in Bankura (State of West Bengal, India)
Snehamoy Chakraborty, The Telegraph India
September 21, 2022
See link
https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/elephant-kills-72-year-old-morning-walker-in-bankura/cid/1887859
for photo.
A 72-year-old morning walker in Bankura’s Sonamukhi was killed by an
elephant that had deserted its herd after a group of unruly villagers had
allegedly hurled crackers and crude bombs while foresters were trying to
drive animals away from a crowded area.
Lalmohan Kundu, 72, a farmer of Kuchdih of Bankura’s Sonamukhi, died after
the angry animal pinned its tusk into one of the victim’s legs.
“The person was elderly and he died of profuse bleeding,” a forester said.
Sources said foresters in the Sonamukhi range under Bankura north forest
division were busy driving away a herd of 28 elephants towards the elephant
corridor in West Midnapore that finally leads to forests in Jharkhand.
At the same time, a group of people near Patrayasay hurled bombs at the
herd, leading the animals to go back towards Sonamukhi. “One of the
elephants got detached from the herd because of the chaos created by the
villagers,” a forest official said.
The elderly farmer accidentally came in close proximity of the animal and
was injured severely by its tusk,” said a forester. Senior forest officers
said they would conduct a campaign among villagers to resolve issues of
human-elephant conflict that includes disturbing elephants in multiple
Jungle Mahal districts.
“We are trying out best to manage the human-animal conflict in our
jurisdiction. We don’t want any loss of life for both animals and humans.
Today’s incident was harrowing. Our teams are trying to relocate the herd
of elephants to the forests,” said Umar Imam, the divisional forest officer
of Bankura north division.
The death in elephant attacks has become an issue in Jungle Mahal districts
like Jhargram, Bankura, Purulia and West Midnapore in the past few years.
At least 10 persons were killed by elephants in Jhargram in the past month.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee last week said her government would provide
a job to the next of kin of elephant attackvictims in the police
irrespective of standard physical measurement.