Elephant Trampled Woman To Death Then Showed Up To Her Funeral To Have Another Go At Her
A woman has been attacked twice by an enraged elephant, once while she was alive and again at her funeral.
According to The Times of India, 68-year-old Maya Murmu was fetching water when she was attacked by a furious elephant in India's Mayurbhanj district in Odisha last week on June 9.
The pi**ed-off pachyderm was part of a larger herd that had strayed from the nearby Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary.
When Murmu attempted to flee, one of the elephants charged and trampled her.
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She was taken to a hospital where she died from her injuries, The Print reports.
In the evening, when Murmu's body had been returned to her family, her loved ones began performing her last rites.
Unfortunately for them, the furious elephant wasn't done.
The livid creature seized the opportunity to have another go at Murmu.
According to The Print, the angry animal stormed the funeral, took the corpse from the pyre, trampled her dead body, threw it, and fled.
"Her family kept the body outside the house for the funeral [and this was when] the animal again came and attacked her," Inspector Lopamudra Nayak of Rasgovindpur police station told The National.
Odia Media reported that the enraged tusker waited near the mangled corpse for over an hour before it began to roar.
Other members of the elephant's herd answered the call, with the group of them then attacking the village and destroying Murmu's house.
Murmu's last rites were eventually performed a few hours later after family members were sure that the elephants had left.
It is not known if anyone else has been harmed by the rogue elephant.
Approximately 100 people in India are killed each year by elephants, although the number could be as high as 300, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
The National reports that the Indian state of Odisha has suffered the most deaths, with nearly 600 people killed by elephants between 2014-2021.
At least four people were killed last week in different incidents across India.
According to Joyce Poole, research director at the Amboseli Elephant Research Project in Kenya, elephants are more than capable of vengeance.
"They are certainly intelligent enough, and have good enough memories, to take revenge," she said as per The Times.
"Wildlife managers may feel it is easier to just shoot so-called ‘problem’ elephants than face people’s wrath."
She added: "So an elephant is shot without realising the possible consequences on the remaining family members, and the very real possibility of stimulating a cycle of violence."
It is not known what Murmu had done to infuriate the elephant.
Rachel Lang