G Udayagiri: In yet another incident of human-animal conflict, a wild elephant trampled and dismembered a 55-year-old labourer on the outskirts of this Kandhamal town Saturday evening, police said. This gory death has sparked anger among villagers who say officials ignored repeated warnings about the rampaging herd.
Samanta Digal of Malansuga village was walking home from work with two companions when the elephant charged at them near Pajimaha, about 2 km from G Udayagiri, according to eyewitness Sanjeeb Pradhan. Digal was caught by the trunk, trampled and torn apart. The others escaped death by a whisker. Forest range officers Prashanta Sahu and Rasmita Buxi reached the scene with senior police officers Sunday morning, 18 hours after the attack. They promised compensation to the family and said that they had briefed the divisional forest officer, who had yet to appear, fuelling residents’ frustration. Villagers said elephant incursions have destroyed crops and claimed lives for months, yet authorities have taken no concrete steps to drive the animals back into the forest. Some warned they would kill the elephants themselves if officials failed to act swiftly.
Police recovered Digal’s scattered remains for a post-mortem. The incident is the first in the area in which a victim was mutilated. It has intensified criticism of what locals call a slow and inadequate response to escalating human-elephant conflict.
