Elephants have trampled a man to death in India after villagers killed a 1-year-old calf that belonged to the herd.
Villagers in Korba in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh had allegedly killed the calf earlier in the week and buried it in Bania village, divisional forest officer Premlata Yadav told NDTV.
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Human and elephant conflict has been on the rise in India for years. Villagers sometimes kill elephants in retaliation after crop-raiding incidents, which can often lead to dangerous incidents such as this.
The calf’s herd of 44 elephants entered the nearby Devmatti village on Thursday and trampled Pintawar Singh to death while he had been tending to his cattle, Yadav said.
Officials uncovered the calf’s body from a farm in Bania village, where it had been buried and covered with paddy to hide it. The owner of the farm was detained by officials, NDTV reported. It is not clear if Singh was involved in killing the calf.
“Yet another violent and needless death of a wild Asian elephant in Chhattisgarh state in central India. It’s a terrible area for elephants, killed by man in many ways,” Duncan McNair, lawyer, founder and CEO of charity Save The Asian Elephants told Newsweek.
“Undoubtedly, this was retaliatory action by the herd upon the very person who took the life of one of their young, seeking him out and those around him for retribution.
“Elephants are immensely intelligent. Their brains weigh 10 pounds or more and have complex surface folds and a highly developed hippocampus, which enables profound emotions of grief, compassion, humour, role-playing and anger. So, while they are a gentle and recessive species, if roused by threats or attacks, they can be deadly,” McNair said.
“And they do have long memories. The incident also shows the protective instincts of elephants for their young and the internal bonds of loyalty developed in the herd.”
Officials told NDTV that this herd of elephants had damaged 22 acres of crops in just two days. Crop-raiding incidents often stem from elephants being forced out of their habitat to find food and water. Habitat degradation often presents a competition between elephant and man for resources.
McNair said that Chhattisgarh, with a population of 30 million, “is increasingly exploiting its natural resources to supply coal, oil, steel and electricity across India.”
This is placing wildlife in danger and “eroding their habitat, creating ever more man-elephant conflict.”
“When an elephant’s patience is provoked beyond endurance, it attacks. When brutally confined, elephants often injure and kill their assailants and tourists,” McNair said.
“Save The Asian Elephants urges genuine sanctuaries and wildlife reserves where elephants are observed from a safe and respectful distance, rather than the chaos of ever-more stressed elephants forced by habitat loss into villages and cultivated crops, and an end to advertising in the UK and beyond of brutal elephant ‘attractions.'”
