When exploring nature parks and forests in Singapore, it’s not uncommon for us to encounter animals like snakes and wild boars. In contrast, we almost never hear of encounters with larger wildlife creatures that tower over us.
Over in India, however, an elderly woman was attacked by an elephant she came face to face with as she was fetching water. She was rushed to the hospital where she eventually succumbed to her injuries. Unfortunately, the story did not end there.
Source: Wikipedia, for illustration purposes only
During her funeral, the same elephant apparently reappeared and trampled on the woman’s corpse. Strangely and miraculously, the elephant did not attack anyone else in the crowd.
According to The National News, 70-year-old Maya Murmu was fetching water from a tube well in the Indian state of Odisha last Saturday (11 Jun) when she encountered the wild elephant.
Believed to have strayed from Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary located some 200km away, the elephant reportedly trampled the woman to death.
That evening, Madam Murmu’s family gathered for her funeral.
But in a bizarre turn of events, the elephant made another appearance when the victim’s family members were performing their last rites.
The elephant then trampled on the corpse, threw it, and fled the scene, reported The Print.
Bizarrely, no one else at the funeral was harmed or attacked by the mammoth.
While elephants are typically seen as gentle giants, India has reportedly seen a rise in fatal attacks involving these behemoth mammals over recent decades.
In the past seven years, up to 3,300 people in India reportedly lost their lives after being attacked by elephants.
Of all the Indian states, Odisha recorded the most deaths — between 2014 and 2021, nearly 600 people were killed.
Nonetheless, Duncan McNair, Founder of Save The Asian Elephants conservation charity, said the attack was “surprising because it shows no provocation of the elephant”.
He added that the elephant’s surprise appearance at the funeral and subsequent “handling” of the body could be due to it associating Madam Murma with “some catastrophe to it or its herd”, reported Newsweek.
While this was certainly a bizarre attack, it’s also a reminder that typically gentle creatures can also be dangerous too.
After all, when it comes to wild animals, it’s perhaps wise to keep our distance, in case we startle them.
MS News sends our sincerest condolences to Madam Murmu’s loved ones. May she rest in peace.
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Featured image adapted from Wikipedia.
The last time this happened was on 21 Oct.
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