MillenniumPost
Bengal

Tusker dies of thirst in W Midnapore

An elephant died on Sunday due to severe scarcity of water in West Midnapore forest while a middle-aged man was trampled to death by another tusker in Jalpaiguri when it came out in search of water in villages adjacent to forests.

It may be mentioned that the attack of tuskers at villages those are situated close to forests had been continuing for the past few days with the mercury touching around 45 degrees Celsius. The 
animals are not getting water to drink as most of the water bodies dried up in the forests. 

On Sunday at Baikunthapur in Jalpaiguri, a tusker came out of the forest in search of water. 

It had also damaged the house in search of water. It drank the water that was kept in a container inside the house. 

After drinking water the elephant moved towards the agricultural land where a man had tried to stop him. Finding no way out the animal trampled the man who became senseless. 

The officials of the state forest department rushed to the spot and rescued the victim, who was declared brought dead after he was taken to a hospital. The tusker was somehow sent back to the forest after it ran amok in the village damaging a huge quantity of crops and several houses. 

The local people staged a demonstration demanding compensation to the next to the victim’s kin. 

The agitation was withdrawn after senior officials of the forest department assured that they would look into the matter.

In another incident due to the scarcity of water in forest, an elephant died after getting sufficient water to drink in the outskirts of Jhargram in West Midnapore.

On Sunday morning, villagers found the elephant lying in a paddy field. They informed the forest department officials who rushed to the spot and sent the carcass for an autopsy. 

It is learnt that the preliminary investigation suggested that tuskers had been frequently entering the villages for past few days in search of water. 

The villagers had even started keeping water in containers outside their houses. 

The carcass of the elephant was found close to the hut of a villager and the container outside his house was found empty. 

It suggests that the elephant had drunk water, but it needed more to quench its thirst. However, it died due to water shortage. 
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