Wild elephants charge at villagers in Assam's Goalpara

Goalpara (Assam): In yet another incident of man-animal conflict, elephants attacked the locals of the Harimura Daikata village of Goalpara on Thursday and damaged the fields. A video of the incident was recorded by a villager from a distance.  

The herd of elephants were sighted wandering into the croplands of the village. Some villagers lit up one end of some long poles to scare away the tuskers. However, the situation quickly escalated as the elephant herd unexpectedly changed direction, heading towards the villagers. The video which soon went viral on social media has caused concern among onlookers about the ongoing man-elephant conflict in various regions of Assam. 

Nowadays, the frequent occurrence of human-elephant conflicts in the vicinity of forest areas has resulted in a prevailing sense of fear among the local population. The possible reason behind these frequent man-animal conflicts could be the venturing of animals beyond their natural habitats in search of food, which is often due to the scarcity caused by human encroachment on their territories. This interaction between humans and animals leads to such conflicts. 

A report released by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, showed that from 2014-2022, 3,938 human lives were lost to wild elephant attacks and Assam alone accounts for 561 deaths while several elephants have also lost their lives in these conflicts.