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Elephant Herd Tramples Poacher To Death In India

Elephant Herd Tramples Poacher To Death In India

The man was 26 years old.

Claire Reid

Claire Reid

A gang of four poachers were trampled by elephants when they entered Thattekkad bird sanctuary in Kerala last night, with one dying and another in a critical condition, according to The Indian Express.

A 26-year-old man only known as Tony was trampled to death by a herd of elephants and his friend, a 30-year-old named Basil, is in critical care.

It's thought that the group were caught in a herd of elephants and couldn't escape.

Credit: PA

Tony also reportedly accidentally set off his rifle and shot himself in the leg.

The two surviving gang members, Sajith and Anish, ran off with their weapons and no one even knew they were involved until they told their friends and families.

Elephants are usually very peaceful creatures were probably sleeping rather than running round trampling everything in their wake, which some have suggested could mean that they did it on purpose.

According to a study by researchers at The University of Sussex in Brighton, elephants are so smart that they can identify languages. They could tell the difference between two different tribes, one who had a history of poaching and one who didn't.

A recent study stated that elephants are killed faster than they are born, while 100 are killed every day by poachers alone.

Source: Indian Express, The Guardian, World Elephant Day and Mental Floss

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Elephant, India