(IN): Human deaths in Assam animal conflict

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http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090425/jsp/northeast/story_10874008.jsp

 

Elephants trample five to death in Dhubri district

OUR CORRESPONDENT

 

Dhubri, April 24: A woman and her four minor children were trampled to

death by two rogue elephants in Assam’s Dhubri district, along the

state’s boundary with Meghalaya, last night.

 

It was sometime between 11pm and 1.30am and Samsul Hoque and his

family members were fast asleep at Bansali village under Mancachar

police station when a commotion in the neighbourhood woke them up.

 

“We were fast asleep when we heard the hue and cry of the villagers.

But who knew that they (the villagers) were alerting us to wake up and

run? After a few moments we felt a tremor. But before we could realise

anything, the rogue elephants uprooted our thatched house and trampled

my family members,” Hoque told this correspondent from Mancachar

police station over phone.

 

In the split second when he realised what was happening, Samsul tried

to save his family members and got injured in the process, but it was

too late.

 

The elephants trampled his wife Kohinoor Begum, 35, his daughters,

Saleha Khatoon, 15, Anna Khatoon, 10, and China Khatoon, and

three-year-old son Hazrat Ali to death.

 

About 15 other villagers were injured, mostly while trying to run to

safety, and 80 thatched houses razed as the elephants went on the

rampage for over one-and-a-half hours.

 

Confirming the death of five persons, Dhubri divisional forest officer

H.R. Sarma said he had sent his officials for spot verification. “We

are investigating whether the village falls inside Bansali reserve

forest. If so, things will be totally different as then the villagers

will be treated as encroachers,” he added.

 

Forest officials said the elephants had come down from Balpakram

National Park in Meghalaya.

 

They said a herd of over 30 elephants has been creating havoc in the

forest area covering Dhubri and Goalpara districts of Assam and the

Garo hills of Meghalaya for the past couple of years.

 

Bodrud Zaman, an academician who lives at Hatsinghimari, which is

about 25km from Bansali, said 15 persons had lost their lives in the

area since 2007 because of the man-elephant conflict.

 

“But till date, no tangible effort has been made to bring an end to

the conflict though steps are being taken in other areas where

man-animal conflict is a growing problem,” he added.

 

Experts said it was not an easy task to bring an end to the

ever-increasing man-elephant conflict because of the depleting forest

cover.

 

“Where will the elephants go when we are encroaching upon their land?

The man-elephant conflict will only increase in the days to come,”

wildlife warden Arup Ballab Goswami, who is doing an extensive study

on a herd of elephants near Kaziranga National Park, said.

 

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