The cost of coexistence: Human fatalities from wild Asiatic elephant attacks

Abstract

We describe two fatal Asian elephant attacks in Rajaji National Park, Uttarakhand. The first victim was a 65-year-old man found dead on a road leading to his village, which passed through a forest. He sustained multiple blunt force traumatic injuries, primarily in the upper part of the body, caused by stomping from an elephant’s feet. The second victim was a 28-year-old man found dead along the banks of the River Ganga. In addition to stomping injuries similar to those in the first case, he also had a fatal tusk penetrating wound in the abdomen. In both cases, death was sudden, resulting from shock and haemorrhage due to blunt force and penetrating trauma, respectively. Injuries typical of such attacks often involve blunt force trauma caused by stomping, squeezing or crushing by the elephant’s trunk and feet. In rare cases, penetrating wounds from male elephants’ tusks may also be observed.