TOP SECRET ANIMAL ATTACK FILES
from Associated Press
| HOME | Drunken
Elephants Rampage in India
OCTOBER 21, 12:29 EDT |
|
| Animal
Attack Books |
GAUHATI, India (AP) — Wild elephants broke
into a cluster of thatched huts, guzzled rice beer
fermenting in casks and then tore the village apart in a drunken rampage,
trampling four people to death
and injuring six, a wildlife official said Thursday.
The herd of 15 elephants descended Wednesday on the village of Prajapatibosti, 180 miles east of Gauhati, state capital of northeastern Assam, elephant expert Kushal Konwar Sharma said. The elephants broke into the thatched huts with their trunks and then began drinking rice beer from casks, Sharma said in a telephone interview from Golaghat. ``After drinking the beer the elephant herd became intoxicated and went on a rampage, trampling to death four members of a family,'' he said. The animals trampled rice paddies and more huts before leaving the area Thursday morning. At least 100 people have been killed in elephant attacks during the past year in Assam, where 5,000 wild elephants are estimated to be living. Human encroachment and a shrinking forest habitat have been the main causes of the problem, Sharma said. |