It has been six years since Indian authorities tried to stop this elephant, which is said to have trampled six people in southern India. The pachyderm was transferred to a nature reserve.
An elephant responsible for the deaths of at least six people in the southern Indian state of Kerala was captured by rangers on Saturday after years of being hunted.
The pachyderm was given the nickname “Arikomban”, which means “rice-loving elephant”, because it used to visit rice shops to go for food, while regularly targeting humans: it thus trampled to death six people during its various raids, estimate local authorities.
Six years of hunting
Indian authorities had been trying to capture it for six years before finally succeeding after setting up an important device: 150 forest guards were deployed and equipped with rifles equipped with tranquilizer darts, five of which were finally administered to the culprit pachyderm of troubles. They were also supported by four trained elephants to help them.
Arikomban resisted for a long time before giving in, after several hours. It was then placed in a truck to be transported by road to a nature reserve, in a convoy worthy of a presidential trip, which testifies to the importance given to the animal. Kerala’s Minister of Forests, AK Saseendran, told the Times of India that the animal was in good health and that it was adapting to its new environment.
This capture has provoked the anger of many associations for the defense of animals, which denounce the treatment to which the elephant has been subjected. They believe that humans are encroaching on the territory of pachyderms.
Conflicting cohabitation
The cohabitation between humans and elephants is a real problem in India and one that is becoming more and more important.
“Asian elephants have lost about three quarters of their natural range for three centuries. Today, they are found in fragmented habitats, cut into small pieces, and which are in connection with the areas used by humans, agricultural areas for example”, explains to BFMTV Philippe Grandcolas, scientific deputy director of the CNRS ecology and environment institute.
This problem affects Thailand, Sri Lanka and particularly India, which has 30,000 wild elephants, the largest population in the world. Cohabitation is often forced, with elephants regularly entering rural communities and causing material damage and often injuries or even deaths.
Over the past three years, 1,500 people have been killed by elephants in India and 300 elephants have been killed by humans, according to the figures published by the Indian government in 2022.
