Uproar after elephant attacked with a flaming spear dies in West Bengal forest
An adult female elephant died in Jhargram in West Bengal after mobs pierced her with a flaming spear hours after another pachyderm allegedly killed a resident.
An adult female elephant has died in Jhargram in West Bengal after mobs pierced her with a flaming spear hours after another pachyderm allegedly killed a resident on the outskirts of the town, said animal rights groups, underscoring the escalating human-elephant conflict in the region and the complexities involved with controlling such situations.
The attack on the elephants, videos of which went viral on social media, also renewed calls among activists for improved mechanisms to protect animals and people who live in areas with thick wildlife populations.
Local police registered a first information report (FIR) against unidentified people and said a probe was on to identify the people behind the attack.
Six elephants – two males, two females and two calves – entered Raj College colony in the town early on August 15. Soon, one of the males allegedly killed a senior citizen resident around 7.10am in a neighbouring colony. This reportedly prompted forest department to call for the local “hulla team” – a group of people tasked with chasing away large animals, most often using percussion instruments or torches. However, on this occasion, the teams, roughly 35-strong, came armed with flaming torches.
The elephant died around eight hours after the attack, following efforts to rehabilitate it by the forest department, said activists.
Initially, the teams shot one of the male elephants who was passing through a football ground with multiple tranquiliser darts around 12.30pm. It is unclear if the same elephant killed the man.
However, around the same team, others in the “hulla” party chased down one of the female elephants, stabbing her with a burning spear, according to videos. To be sure, HT was not able to independently verify the authenticity of the videos.
Videos show the spear hit her lower back. It further showed her struggling to get up as the torch, which had pierced into her skin, had burned her back. Other videos showed her dragging her hind legs, even as people continued to attack her. The pachyderm, writhing in pain, eventually collapsed.
Experts say the torch injured her spine.
A video shows a child pleading with her father in Bangla.
“Please do not hurt them. Why are they hurting her, father? Please let them go. She will die,” says the girl, as the video shows the female struggling with the burning metal bar sticking out of her back.
Another villager in another clip is heard saying, also in Bangla: “She should not have been hurt like this. This is not right. No matter what.”
To be sure, the use of spikes is banned to manage human-animal conflicts. According to a 2018 Supreme Court order, “as an emergency measure, under the direct control of the forest department, mashaals (torches) may be used for the time being only to avoid any deaths and crop damage that may take place and ensure the proper movement of elephants in the corridors.”
Animal rights groups reiterated calls for restraint in human-animal conflict situations.
“Hulla drives happen in mob situations… The elephants suffer emotional trauma because of these invasive measures, in addition to physical distress. There is an urgent need to completely stop the use of mashaals by state authorities to drive elephants,” said a representative of Human & Environment Alliance League (HEAL), a Kolkata-based non-profit.
“The whole idea of having a hulla party to chase elephants is only use of light to divert them from a place. We know that animals are instinctively scared of fire. But we have seen in the past that hula groups employed by the forest department are in inebriated condition and resort to all kinds of horrific torture. Locals are extremely disturbed about this. Moreover all corridors that can help these elephants escape are now encroached upon so conflict is rising,” said an environmentalist who asked not to be named.
The West Bengal forest department denied that hulla team members involved with them threw the spear at the female elephant.
“Forest department staff and members of the hula party were on the ground. They couldn’t have inflicted such an injury on the elephant’s back, which was at least nine-feet high,” said Debal Roy, West Bengal’s chief wildlife warden.
Such a wound could have only been inflicted by someone who was standing on some roof-top or sitting on a tree, he said.
“Whoever has done it is a criminal and will be punished according to the Wildlife Protection Act. Efforts are on to identify and nab the person,” said Roy.
A villager who declined to be named said: “There was no need to call a hulla party. They (forest department) could have just imposed section 144 and the forest is only 200 metres away. But, instead of that a huge crowd had gathered. The elephants were in a very small place. We advised that they can be diverted to the forest instead of being chased which makes them confused. In the midst of all this the adult elephant who was nursing a calf was attacked with the mashaal. The forest department and hulla party was present and chasing them together. The Villagers were very hurt. If you saw this happen, you would also cry. Villagers are protesting against the cruel killing of elephant in our village.” There were several protests in Jhargram by villagers against the cruelty against the elephant.
There were 436 human casualties due to conflict with elephants in West Bengal between 2019 to 2024, according to Union environment ministry data.