Wild elephant on rampage in Tripura’s Khowai district, killed a villager

A herd of wild elephants once again rampaged at Kapalitilla village of Maharanipur under Teliamura police station of Khowai district and trampled to death an old villager on Sunday night.

Sources said that deceased man identified as Niranjan Chowdhury (70), who was returning to his home through the village road of Kapalitilla on Sunday, but all of sudden a herd of wild jumbos attacked him and trampled him to death at the spot.

After the incident of killing of a villager by jumbos, like wildfire angry villagers gathered at the spot and amidst escalating tension, police and forest personnel rushed to the spot and staged agitation against administration.

It may be recalled here that every year , particularly during dry season, wild elephants often in search of their food rampage and vandalize houses, gardens and other properties of villagers. Often during the man and elephant conflict, villagers sustained injuries and were killed by jumbos.

“Human-elephant conflict” describes negative interactions between elephants and humans. The most common forms are crop raiding (when elephants eat or destroy crops), property destruction, or simply people getting too close to elephants and triggering defensive behaviours that may lead to injury or death of people and elephants.

These conflicts endanger not only people’s safety and elephants’ survival but also the health of ecosystems and the traditional lifestyles of rural communities.

So far, the Forest department of Tripura government does not  use any technology or method to deter the wild elephants from crop raiding and entering human settlements, which is one of the main reasons for human-elephant conflict in the vast interior of Teliamura subdivision.