Flame-throwing elephants clash with humans over resources in Bangladesh | Herald Sun:
AN increasing number of humans are being killed by wild elephants each year in Bangladesh – with many of the fatalities occurring because people settle in the animals’ migration corridors.Bangladesh is home to only an estimated 227 wild Asian elephants, but up to 100 more migrate through the country each year, mostly through the north and northeast, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
As more people in Bangladesh, one of the world’s most densely populated nations, settle in the elephant corridor areas, they are more likely to be attacked by confused, angry pachyderms.
There are now hundreds of villages along the densely-forested Indian border and residents of the area say they frequently have to drive away herds of wild elephants that come to raid their paddy fields and fruit trees.
During harvesting season, the villagers form night patrols and use kerosene torches, firecrackers and drums to drive the elephants away, but these efforts are becoming increasingly futile.
Tribal leader Luise Neng Minja said the elephants, which shelter in the forest during the day and come down to villages at night, used to flee but now they are no longer so scared.
“I’ve seen an elephant snatch a torch from a man with its trunk while we were driving away a herd, and throw the flame on a house, setting it on fire,” said Luise, 51.
