Cyclist killed in elephant attack in Bengal, total fatalities this year reach 10

Kolkata, Dec 28 (IANS) A cyclist was trampled to death by a rogue elephant in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district on Thursday, officials said. The incident took place on the state highways passing through the forest areas in Gayerkata area in Jalpaiguri, when the rogue elephant suddenly came out of the forest and attacked the man passing through the area on his bicycle.The deceased has been identified as Aparesh Sarkar, a vegetable trader by profession. His fellow cyclist Harekrishna Mridha somehow managed to escape.This is the second death in an elephant attack in West Bengal within a gap of just 12 days.On December 16, Dilip Roy, was trampled to death at Bagdogra near Siliguri in Darjeeling and in November, a woman died in a similar elephant attack in the Naxalbari area of the same district.With this death, the total number of human fatalities caused by elephant attacks this year in West Bengal has gone up to 10.Forest Department officials have assured the victim’s family of compensation. Department sources admitted that the entry of elephants into human habitations has become a permanent headache for the department as well as the local people.The danger, according to them, is two-way.On one hand, the entry of tuskers into human habitations poses a life threat for the local people. On the other, to prevent their entry into their localities, the villages often use electric fencing on the village boundaries, which becomes fatal for the tuskers.–IANSsrc/vd