A tragic incident of human-elephant conflict resulted in the death of a 48-year-old man in a remote village of Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district. The victim, identified as Laxman Deogam, was fatally attacked by a stray male elephant on Friday late evening.
Details of the Fatal Attack
The attack occurred in Genduga Regadiri village, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Jaraikela police station and is located deep within the Koyna forest area of the Saranda Forest division. According to officials, Deogam was sitting beside a bonfire on the verandah of his house when the elephant, which had strayed into the human settlement, attacked him from behind without warning.
The powerful tusker then dragged the victim approximately 20 metres away from his home before trampling him. Despite attempts by village neighbours to rescue him during the attack, their efforts were unsuccessful. The grim discovery was made on Saturday morning when locals found Deogam's body and alerted the local forest guard, Abhay Kumar.
Official Response and Investigation
Following the recovery of the body, it was sent to Chakradharpur Sadar Hospital for a postmortem examination. Forest department officials have initiated the process to provide ex-gratia compensation to the kin of the deceased.
Aviroop Sinha, the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of the Saranda forest division, provided context to the tragic event. He stated that the incident site is part of a known elephant corridor stretching from Manoharpur to adjoining Odisha. The casualty is directly linked to the movement of a male elephant that had wandered into the village after getting separated from its herd.
Ongoing Human-Wildlife Conflict
This fatal encounter underscores the persistent and deadly challenge of human-wildlife conflict in regions adjacent to forest corridors. Villages situated deep inside forested areas, like Genduga Regadiri, remain vulnerable to such dangerous intrusions by wild animals, especially elephants that stray from their traditional migration paths.
The incident has sent shockwaves through the local community and highlights the urgent need for effective mitigation strategies to prevent similar tragedies in the future, particularly in identified elephant corridors where such conflicts are more likely to occur.
