Elephants trampled a man who had killed “a one-year-old calf that belonged to the herd,” as reported by Newsweek. Newsweek reported, “villagers in Korba in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh had allegedly killed the calf earlier in the week and buried it in Bania village.”
The victim was taking care of his cattle when 44 elephants charged towards him then trampled him.
What happened to the body of the calf?
The authorities in a Bania village farm discovered the calf’s body. The body’s buried and covered with paddy. According to NDTV, authorities have arrested thte farm’s owner. However, the victim’s involvement in the calf’s death is unclear.
According to Newsweek, “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. It is not clear if the victim 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.
In fact, the level of hostility between humans and elephants in India has been steadily increasing over the past few years. Villagers sometimes kill elephants as punishment for crop-raiding, incidents, which frequently results in deadly situations.
“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,”
— Duncan McNair, the founder of Save The Asian Elephants
Moreover, it is not uncommon for elephants to lash out when humans kill them for ruining crops.
In addition to that, the herd responsible for the victim’s death “damaged 22 acres of crops in two days. Crop-raiding incidents often stem from elephants being forced out of their habitat to find food and water.”