Horror as girl, 8, tragically trampled to death by herd of elephants | World | News
An eight-year-old girl was trampled to death by a herd of wild elephants as she and her family tried to escape the stampede on foot. The girl, named Citra, escaped from her wooden house in a cornfield in Indonesia’s Riau province after being targeted by a herd of wild elephants on October 30. He died on November 3 after being in a coma for three days due to severe head trauma.
According to West Rumbai police chief Said Khairul, Citra’s father urged his wife and four children to pack their belongings and run after hearing loud noises outside their home. According to reports, the eight-year-old boy tripped over the path of the elephant herd during the ensuing chaos. His skull was tragically fractured after being chewed on by one of the wild mammals.
The police chief said authorities were trying to “return the elephants to their national habitat so that they no longer endanger local residents.” Daily Mail reports.
The Riau Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) also confirmed that it was “coordinating with the police and local authorities to ensure that the situation remains under control.”
“We urge residents not to act aggressively or provocatively towards wild elephants,” a spokesman said. “We understand the fear and shock in the community, but aggressive actions could make the situation worse.”
Zulhusni Syukri, director of the Rimba Satwa Foundation, an organization dedicated to wildlife advocacy, attributed the tragedy to the ongoing suffering elephants in Indonesia face due to habitat destruction and high levels of hunting.
“Such incidents stem from decades of trauma that elephants have suffered in Riau as a result of human intervention, including being driven away from villages, caught in traps and frightened with fireworks,” he told the South China Morning Post.
“This trauma caused a change in the elephants’ behavior and made them more aggressive.”
Eko Greek, director of the Indonesian Environmental Forum in Riau, also suggested that action to “prevent human-elephant conflict” took place on a “reactive” basis “only after death has occurred.”
“Saving and protecting elephant habitats should be a top priority to prevent similar incidents,” he told This Week in Asia. “Without safe habitats, elephants will continue to enter residential areas and fields.”
