The tusker elephant was Sympathetic

Jewel helped us to locate the elephant resting in between some shade trees inside the tea garden. Jewel is a field supervisor of a reputed tea company in Assam. During his free time, he offers his services as a volunteer in our elephant trekking program. Looking at the elephant, Jewel said,” I have been following this tusker elephant for the last two years.”The elephant was approximately 11 feet tall. It was a full-grown gigantic wild tusker with two thick and sturdy tusks.

Jewel and other members of our elephant trekking program had reported many stories about this elephant. According to them, the elephant spends most of its time around people and behaves differently from its fellow elephants.

The tusker and Supra

Jewel told us the story of Supra Tanti, who was lucky enough to survive a confrontation with the elephant. He said, “Although the big bull elephant is not very aggressive, living with the elephant is still very risky.”

One morning around 6:30 am, the big bull elephant was crossing a labor colony of a tea garden. The elephant was reentering the tea garden to take refuge for the day. There are many secluded areas inside the tea gardens where elephants can take shelter during the daytime after their nocturnal forays. This elephant was moving towards section -32 of the Phulbari tea garden. It is one of the favorite resting places of the tusker elephant.

“Although the tusker is not very agrressive , living with the elephants is still very risky”

Supra Tanti

The kids from the tea garden colony noticed the elephant, it was a startling sight, and they could not resist but to run towards the elephants.

When the elephant noticed the kids, he halted for a moment and slightly bent back to look towards them.

But the kids were accustomed to the big bull elephant, so they pushed toward the elephant without any hesitation.

It is a familiar sight in the tea gardens of the area; children often drive him along as they do cattle. So far, there are no records of him agitating or attacking kids.

The kids joined the elephant, they were about 20-30 meters apart, and they started screaming and yelling at the elephant.

The situation compelled the tusker to take a turn and hit the garden road to move quickly to avoid those kids.

This garden road is the approach road of the 3 No. labor colony of Amaribari Division of the Phulbari Tea Estate.

Banful Santal, an employee of the garden, saw the elephant and the kids on the far side of the approach road. He was about to start his bicycle ride to the tea factory when he saw the big bull elephant.

At the same time, a person from the colony walked past Banful. The person was carrying a hoe on his shoulder. The name of this person was Supra Tanti, he is a daily wage worker, and he was going to the nearby town for work. This person was old, and his hearing ability was weak, and he has a bad habit of bending forward at an awkward angle while walking.

Banful yelled to warn him, saying an elephant is coming from the front. Banful thought Supra heard the warning, and he might take the left turn at the junction which was a few meters ahead of Supra and Banful. But he did not, and the elephant was rapidly approaching towards them! The kids also started yelling at Supra to warn him, but he could not hear; he was unaware of the danger ahead.

The elephant saw him coming from the front with a weapon in his hand, but he did not stop.

Banful was shocked. He thought he could have stopped the person, but it was already too late; the person was just in front of the elephant. The kids had stopped and stood silent. Banful had no options left but to see the man got killed by the beast. When supra was about 10 feet away from the elephant, the elephant swung his trunk out, and Supra disappeared from the road; and the elephant halted and glanced at the side of the road where Supra dropped. The kids started screaming. The tusker elephant had enough time to kill the person if he wished, but he chose to go away!

Baneful was astounded to see Supra alive; he praised the wise elephant from his heart and proceeded toward his office. The children continued their fun of shouting at the elephant. Supra was slightly wounded, so his nephew took him to the hospital.

Is the tusker elephant is trying to coexist with human ?

In the tea gardens of Sonitpur, there are many people like Banful Sautal, Supra Tanti, and the kids who have experienced the tolerance of this tusker elephant. Its peculiar behavior has earned him a reputation among the people who are living with the elephants. Maybe it is the best tactic for him to cohabit with humans!

If you wish to know more about this elephant, please let me know.