Villagers Try To Drive Away Elephant With Spiked Rods, Fireballs. It Dies

A banned practice of using spiked rods and fireballs to drive away wild animals has led to the death of an elephant in West Bengal's Jhargram district on Thursday. Conservationist Prerna Singh Bindra shared the incident in an online post on Saturday afternoon.

Six elephants, including two calves, had entered Raj College Colony early Thursday morning and broke some walls. Hours later, another from the herd killed an elderly resident of the colony.

As the elephants went on rampage, a 'Hulla' team armed with iron rods and burning torches arrived to drive them away. The locals indicated that the Hulla team was working with full knowledge of the Forest Department, claimed the conservationist.

Hulla parties are a group of people tasked with driving away elephants from farmlands. Widely seen in West Bengal, the practice of using spiked rods and hurling of fireballs by these hulla parties was banned by the Supreme Court in 2018 following a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Ms Bindra and other activists.

A tusker from the herd was shot multiple times at the Dharampur football ground with tranquiliser darts by the forest department. Later freed by the officials, he was not able to walk properly. It is not confirmed if this was the tusker that killed the elderly man earlier in the day.

One of the female elephants who was attacked by the hulla group had a fire-tipped iron rod stuck to its body, which damaged its spine, said the conservationist.

The elephant was taken away by the Forest Department late night for treatment - after a delay of more than eight hours. While there has been no word from forest officials, the conservationist claimed the elephant succumbed to its injuries this morning.

"Will the @moefcc again be complicit? Will #ProjectElephant @ForestDeptWB take hard decisions? We claim to protect, worship elephants-but we can't provide them habitat, can't give them space,-either physically, or in our hearts," Ms Bindra wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Another tusker that was severely injured and was unable to stand, was being pushed into the forest using a bulldozer, she wrote.