In yet another incident of man-elephant conflict, a youth was trampled to death by a wild elephant in Paneri tea estate of Assam’s Udalguri district.
The incident took place at about 10 pm on Saturday evening.
The deceased has been identified as 25-year-old Jaichan Kujur.
It has been reported that Jaichan Kujur was confronted by the wild elephant while he was returning home on foot.
It is pertinent here to mention that the man-elephant conflict has taken an ugly turn along the Indo-Bhutan border villages in Udalguri district claiming as 7 human lives and 8 elephant in 2017-18.
As the man-elephant conflict continues in different parts of Assam, the state recorded the first casualty of wild elephant in 2019 on January 8.
According to information, a female wild jumbo was found dead at Panpur in Jamugurihat area under Sonitpur district on January 8.
Sources said, forest officials suspected that the female wild elephant died after consuming food laced with poison.
Reportedly, Assam is home to nearly 6,000 wild elephants.
As per the 2017 elephant census, India is home to 27,312 elephants accounting for 55 pc of total world elephant population.
Due to massive population growth and rapid industrialisation, the habitats of wild elephants have been destroyed resulting in incidents of human-elephant conflict.
It has been reported that in Assam, around 68 wild elephants were killed in 2018 due to human-elephant conflict.
While some of the wild elephants were killed after being hit by running trains, some other wild jumbos died due to electrocution and a number of jumbos died due to poisoning.
In Assam, between 2013 to 2017, elephants have been victims of poaching, train related accidents and deaths, poisoning, and electrocution.
In between 2006 and 2016, wild elephants have killed more than 700 people in Assam.