Assam | Fisherman Killed in Man-Elephant Conflict

Demow, May 30, 2019:

In a tragic incident, a fisherman became a casualty in the man-elephant conflict in Demow in Sibsagar district of Assam.

Umashankar Sahni, a fisherman was killed by an elephant on the banks of of the Brahmaputra at Gorkha Sapori. Father of three Sahni hailed from Dhaibari in Demow.

One the other hand, Thanda Panging, who is a resident of Dolpa Village in Assam, was somehow able to to escape with his life after being attacked by an elephant. Panging was also injured in the incident.

Elephant-human conflict is a result of habitat loss and fragmentation. When elephants and humans interact, there is conflict from crop raiding, injuries and deaths to humans caused by elephants, and elephants being killed by humans for reasons other than ivory and habitat degradation.

Humans have died from conflicts with elephants in NE India. In just one week in August 1993, elephants near Burhachapori and Laokhowa wildlife sanctuaries in Assam killed more than 50 people. A lone “rogue” bull caused more than half of these deaths. From 1980 to 2003, as many as 1,010 people in Assam and more than 1,150 people across NE India have died from human–elephant conflicts (Figure 2).

In 1997 alone, 68 people died from conflicts with elephants in Assam. Elephants have also died as a result of human–elephant conflicts. More than 370 elephants were killed or poached in NE India between 1980 and 2003, many of which were killed in retaliation by villagers.

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