A couple tending to their farm in India was trampled to death by an elephant who was separated from its herd, according to local authorities.
Venkatesh, 50, and his wife Selvi, 48, had been working on their farm in the Gudipala, Chitoor area of Andhra Pradesh when the attack occurred, Indian newspaper The Siaset Daily reported.
The couple both sustained major injuries before dying at the scene after the angry elephant charged. The elephant, a male, also injured another individual, identified as Karthik, shortly after the attack. He was rushed to the hospital for treatment.
It is unclear why the elephant attacked. Elephants are usually gentle creatures but can become dangerous if they are provoked. These animals can weigh up to 8,000 pounds, and their trunks, which have around 40,000 muscles in them, can lift weights of 700 pounds.
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Male elephants occasionally become aggressive during breeding and are capable of inflicting serious injury.
Local police and forest department officials rushed to the area following the incident, The Siaset Daily reported. The authorities realized the elephant had entered the farm after being separated from its herd and tried to coax the animal back into the forest, but failed.
Officials are warning residents not to visit farms in the nearby area until they track the elephant down.
There are around 50,000 Asian elephants surviving in the wild, according to World Land Trust. Numbers have also been increasing recently in India, which is home to over 29,000 elephants, according to a survey done in 2017.
This means that human and elephant conflict has been on the rise in India for years. Experts believe this is mainly a result of habitat loss. As human development projects expand, elephant habitats are becoming smaller, which forces humans and wildlife together.
This elephant may have been attracted to the area for the crops, and vegetation surrounding the area. This, paired with fragmented habitats, can cause “crop raiding” instances, which occur when elephants stray onto farmlands in search of food and water, ruining growing crops as they do so.
Often, villagers will harm elephants that have damaged their crops. The provoked animals can attack in retaliation.
Experts believe climate change is also making life harder for elephants, which subsequently creates more conflict. As global warming worsens, water sources are more likely to be scarce, causing elephants to hunt out new resources in other areas, away from their habitats.
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