Elephant kills 55-year-old woman in Uttarakhand’s Nainital
A senior forest official said that man-animal conflict has increased because of several reasons, including humans coming close to the forests for habitation.
A 55-year-old woman was killed in an elephant attack on Wednesday morning in Nainital district, when she had gone to the forests to cut grass, said forest officials.
Chandrashekhar Joshi, divisional forest officer (DFO) Ramnagar said that the incident happened in Kotabagh region of the division.
“Bishna Devi, a 55-year-old, resident of Jala village in Kotabagh block was killed by an elephant, when she had gone to the forest with other women to cut grass on Wednesday morning around 10 am. The other women barely managed to escape from the site and saved themselves.
“The women came and informed the villagers, after which the victim was rushed to a hospital where she was declared dead,” said Joshi.
The official further added that the family of the deceased woman would be given appropriate compensation.
On August 30, a 47-year-old man was trampled to death by an elephant in Nainital district. The incident happened in Devchauri range of Ramnagar division when the man took his cattle for grazing in the forest.
The aggression of some elephants in Uttarakhand’s Corbett and Rajaji National Park landscape, two bastions of wild elephants in the state, is a major concern for wildlife officials.
Earlier, Bhuwan Ram 51, a forest watcher was killed by an elephant in Karakot in the Haldwani forest division in the month of June. In July, Parvati Devi 60, forest watcher’s wife was attacked and killed in Kishanpur range of the Terai east forest division. In November last year, a wild elephant killed two people in Haridwar when it went on a rampage in two villages.
A senior forest official said that man-animal conflict has increased because of several reasons, including humans coming close to the forests for habitation. “The natural corridors have been encroached by humans and people go inside the forests and it’s a huge risk as forests are the territory of the wild animals. There is a need to sensitise people about man-animal conflict and how to avoid it,” he said
