West Bengal: Little girl falls from scooter, wild elephant shields her from own herd
Kolkata, Feb 22: In a region fraught with man-animal conflict and bloodshed, here's a story that warms the heart. An elephant stood guard to protect a four-year-old girl, who had fallen down from a scooter, from other members of the herd in Jalpaiguri district on Thursday.
The incident occurred on National Highway 31 near Garumara forest when a family of three was returning to Lataguri after offering puja at a temple inside the forest.The highway divides the forest into two parts.
The incident
On the way home, businessman Nitu Ghosh, who was with his wife Titli and daughter Ahana, stopped the two-wheeler after seeing that a herd of elephants was crossing the road.
After a while, the elephants went into the other side of the jungle and Ghosh resumed his journey. However, some other members of the herd that were still inside the jungle appeared on the road and the scooter almost ran into them.
Human-Elephant conflict a mammoth concern
Ghosh applied the break suddenly and all the three fell down.
Surprisingly, one of the jumbos came forward and stood still keeping the girl in the space between its legs, while other members of the group continued their journey.
A
tourist
was
killed
and
several
others
were
injured
by
elephants
during
the
past
few
months
in
this
area.
Sensing
the
trouble
the
family
was
in,
a
truck
driver
who
was
waiting
behind
Ghosh's
scooter
rushed
to
their
rescue
hooting
the
horn
of
his
vehicle
madly
to
scare
away
the
tuskers.
The elephants then quickly left the spot and Ahana was back on her mother's arms.
The
truck
driver
took
the
family
to
Lataguri.
Ghosh
and
his
wife
were
injured
and
were
admitted
to
a
nursing
home
in
Jalpaiguri.
Doctors in the private facility said the girl suffered no external injury but was traumatised.