Elephant Killed As Villagers Attempt To Scare It Away With Spiked Rods & Fireballs

A banned method of using spiked rods and fireballs to drive away wild animals resulted in the death of an elephant in West Bengal’s Jhargram district on Thursday. Conservationist Prerna Singh Bindra reported the incident on Saturday afternoon.

Early Thursday, six elephants, including two calves, entered Raj College Colony, damaging some walls. Later, one of the elephants killed an elderly resident. As the elephants caused chaos, a ‘Hulla’ team, equipped with iron rods and burning torches, was deployed to drive them away. Bindra claims the team operated with the Forest Department’s knowledge.

Hulla parties, which attempt to drive elephants away from farmlands, use methods that were banned by the Supreme Court in 2018 following a PIL filed by Bindra and other activists. The forest department shot a tusker from the herd multiple times with tranquilizer darts at Dharampur football ground, but the animal was unable to walk properly afterward. It is unclear if this was the tusker involved in the earlier fatal incident.

One female elephant was found with a fire-tipped iron rod lodged in her body, causing spinal damage. The elephant was eventually taken by the Forest Department for treatment after an eight-hour delay but reportedly succumbed to its injuries the following morning.

Bindra criticized the lack of effective action, asking if the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and Project Elephant would take decisive measures. She highlighted the tragic irony of how society claims to protect and revere elephants while failing to provide them with adequate habitat and safety. Another severely injured tusker was reportedly being pushed into the forest with a bulldozer.