Human-Elephant Brawl: Baksa elephant herd attack slays 1 and injures 5 people (State of Assam, India)
Human-Elephant Brawl: Baksa elephant herd attack slays 1 and injures 5
people (State of Assam, India)
Prag News
September 19, 2022
See link
https://pragnews.com/regional/human-elephant-brawl-baksa-elephant-herd-attacks-slaying-one-and-injuring-five-people
for photo.
On Saturday night, a man was crushed to death and five others were injured
by a herd of wild elephants in Assam's Baksa district. The incident
occurred in Khairani village.
Ravindra Boro was killed, and the injured were named as Dhanpati Boro, Anil
Daimary, Paresh Boro, Thengona Musahari, and Sulendra Boro. The elephant
herd visited the area in search of food from the neighbouring forest,
according to locals. At the moment, numerous townspeople attempted to
intimidate the elephant herd, but the elephants attacked them.
The injured were rushed to a private hospital in Rangia, where Anil remains
in severe condition. According to locals, "this is not the first time an
elephant has killed a man in this area; previously, multiple individuals
had died as a result of elephant attacks."
"An elephant entered the area and demolished numerous buildings as well as
causing damage to the rice fields," a local stated. "The forest department
was notified, but they never appeared," a local alleged.
"We villagers suffered hardships every day because of the elephant herd,
but no official from the forest department came to help us," another local
alleged.
Due to habitat loss, elephant-human conflicts have increased in Assam;
however, experts warn that such conflicts could worsen unless forested
areas are protected and migration corridors are restored.
According to government figures, at least 229 people died in Assam in the
three years between 2019 and 2022. In 2019, up to 75 people were murdered
by elephants in the state, with another 91 killed in 2020 and 63 died in
2021.
During the Assembly, Environment and Forest Minister Parimal Suklabaidya
stated, "In the last ten years, as many as 924 people have been murdered,
while another 772 have been injured in man-elephant conflicts in Assam."
In response to BJP MLA Terash Gowalla's question, the minister remarked,
"The clashes were largely reported from 16 districts - Goalpara, Sonitpur,
Biswanath, Nagaon, Hojai, Udalguri, Baksa, Majuli, Golaghat, Jorhat,
Lakhimpur, Chirang, Tinsukia, Kamrup, Darrang, and Sivasagar."
However, the central ministry also gives financial and technical assistance
to states and UTs through the centrally-sponsored 'Project Elephant'
scheme, which aims to safeguard and conserve elephants and their habitats
throughout the country.
"Compensation is offered to local communities for loss of property and life
in order to prevent man-elephant conflict and avert retaliatory killing of
elephants," claimed one official. "Ex-gratia compensation for loss of life
due to human-animal conflict increased from Rs. 2 lakhs to Rs. 5 lakhs," it
was officially said.
However, Assam is home to around 5,719 Asian elephants, making it India's
second largest elephant population.