Five of family killed by wild elephants in India

[Coventina]

Source: Earth Times

New Delhi - Five members of a family were trampled to death on Friday by wild elephants that went on a rampage in a village in India's north-eastern state of Assam, a news report said. Wildlife officials told the IANS news agency that two elephants strayed into a village in the western Dhubri district late on Thursday night.

"The elephants first tore apart a mud-and-thatch hut and killed a woman and her two children," Syed Isfaqur Rehman, a local offical told IANS.

"Two more people injured in the attack in an adjacent house belonging to the same family also succumbed at a hospital Friday morning".

(snip)

The incident came days after a wild elephant killed a Dutch tourist on a safari in the Kaziranga National Park in the state.

Read more: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/265796,five-of-family-killed-by-wild-elephants-in-india.html

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The article goes on to say that in the state 277 people have been killed by elephants in the last five years while more than(?) 269 elephants have been poisoned by the villagers. The conflict comes from habitat destruction and human encroachment. Looks like the tally is about equal, but I bet the elephants will lose in the long run....

[boobooday]

1. I had a friend from the Sudan

He said the elephant rampages were sometimes triggered by drunkenness. He said the elephants came and ate the fermented fruit at the end of the season and had a big elephant frat party and would sometimes run amok through his village.

[hlthe2b]

3. NPR: Study Busts Myth of Inebriated Elephants in Africa

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5056734

[boobooday]

7. LOL

He said they waited and purposely went for the fermented stuff. Perhaps he was trying to entertain me (he did that a lot).

[hlthe2b]

2. NYT magazine had an in depth article on elephant rampage

a couple of years ago that was excellent. While I don't know if I can find the link, the gist is that animal behaviorists, neurobiologists and others are studying these herds, as they seem to be a profound animal model of PTSD. Elephants do have lifelong memories and the tragic killing of mothers, calves and other herd members, even years earlier have a dramatic impact. I will try to find it... There are always those who refuse to credit non-human animals with emotions or higher levels of intelligence. This article goes a very long way to rebutt that and to show the impact of OUR actions on these highly intelligent (and normally peaceful) animals.


NPR interviewed the author of the piece. Listen here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6209655


Here is the original article in NYT Magazine. Long, but highly recommended:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/magazine/08elephant.html?_r=1&fta=y

[Sequoia]

6. I like those creatures.

I remember seeing the Liz Taylor movie, Elephant Walk at a drive-in when I was around 5 years old. Movie complete with army ants too. Then years later a tv movie about a white hunter who was after a certain elephant. This elephant remembered the hunter and he and his herd went after him. It wasn't funny but one of the guides had a nifty alarm watch he was really proud of and the alarm went off which annonyed the heard and he got stomped on too. I have these little cloth elephants I got at a Tai store in town which had lots of elephant items, even tea pots with the trunk as a spout.

Thanks for the link.

[The Stranger]

4. Hopefully the Government, Biologists and Wildlife Officials will take the lead on this.

Otherwise, there will be a "war" against the elephants, whose habitat is being destroyed by human overpopulation, and they will lose as a species.

[raysr]

5. No wonder I can't

understand them when I call verizon, they're being attacked by f-in elephants!