Elephants trample two to death in Jharkhand

Economic Times
20 September 2008

RANCHI: Two people were trampled to death and one was injured as elephants entered a village in Jharkhand's Ramgarh district on Friday and went on the rampage, attacking people and damaging property, police said.

A herd of elephants entered villages that come under the Kuju police station of Ramgargh, around 70 km from here, in the morning. They then went on the rampage in Ratwe village and trampled Khirodhar Mahto and Gulab Mahto to death. The elephants also wounded another villager, a police official said.

Forest officials later reached the village and drove the elephants away. The animals also damaged four houses.

Elephants often venture into human inhabited areas in the region, attack people, damage houses and destroy standing crops.

According to the forest department, over 400 people have died in the last six years in this human-elephant conflict and more than 700 have been injured.

The elephant population in Jharkhand is on the decline. The state is now home to 622 elephants as compared to the 772 in the last census.