Bloody human-tusker tussle casts long shadow over rural Odisha

The being that was pacing outside the home; they call him Death.

- Debabrata Mohanty

On June 23, 77-year-old Saheb Rout from Magubereni village of Dhenkanal district arose at 4am, while it was still dark. He stepped outside his front door, as usual, to relieve himself. He blearily walked past the incandescent bulb strapped to a bamboo stick glowing dimly, failing in its primary purpose. The paddy farmer had barely taken a few steps when from the shadows emerged an incensed elephant who picked him up and hurled him away. Rout fell motionless, but the elephant did not relent, stabbing him in the chest with his tusk.

Inside the house, Rout’s elder son Tapan, back home on vacation from Gujarat where he works as a cook, heard his father scream. He ran outside, only to find the tusker still standing there, grunting, and seemingly guarding Rout’s body. “I froze, unable to comprehend what was happening. The tusker seemed enraged, and stood near the body for over an hour. Only then did it leave for the forest. We call them (elephants) Death,” said Tapan.

It is a death that is becoming increasingly familiar in Odisha. Rout was one of 57 people trampled by elephants in the three months between April and June. Overall, the year has seen 103 deaths already. The April-June numbers are Odisha’s highest ever for the period; in 2022, 38 people were killed during those months and there were 33 such deaths in 2021. Last year, Bhupender Yadav, Union minister for forests, environment and climate change, told the Lok Sabha that 1,578 people died of elephant attacks between 2019-20 and 2021-22. Of these, Odisha accounted for 322 deaths, the highest, followed by Jharkhand with 291.

Most experts are in agreement that the growing conflict is concerning, almost entirely man-made, and revolves around one fundamental question.