Elephant runs amok in Indian town
KOLKATA, India — A wild elephant ramp aged through an east Indian town Wednesday, smashing cars and homes and sending panicked people running before the animal was tranquilized to be returned to the wild.
As the frightened elephant ran amok, trampling parked ca rs a nd motorbikes, crowds of people gathered to watch from balconies and roof tops. Some followed from a distance as the elephant moved through the streets.
“The eleph a nt was scared and was trying to go back to the jungle,” said Papaiya Sarkar, a homemaker who watched the elephant amble down a street near her home.
The elephant had wandered from the Baikunthapur forest, crossing roads and a small river before entering the town of Siliguri in West Bengal state.
Divisional Forest Officer Basab Rai said the female elephant appeared to be a loner without a herd, and was likely looking for food when it entered the town.
He said it did not attack any people, and appeared to be afraid of them. After several hours, it became clear the elephant could not find its way back to the forest.
Authorities eventually shot the elephant three times with a tranquilizer gun and used a crane to lift it into a truck once it had calmed down.
It was then taken to a park for domesticated pachyderms that is maintained by the forest de- partment. Once the effect of the tranquilizer wore off, authorities planned to return the elephant to the forest, Rai said.
Elephants are increasingly coming into contact with people in India, as the human population of 1.25 billion soars and cities grow at the expense of elephant habitats. In India and Sri Lanka, more than 400 elephants and 250 humans are killed each year.
Wednesday, another wild elephant trampled a farmer to death in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.