Choki Wangmo | Sarpang

An elephant attack injured a 37-year-old woman from Dzomlingthang in Gelephu yesterday.

Her two elder children escaped the attack unhurt and hid in the pigsty.

The woman came face-to-face with the tusker when she was trying to save her children. She managed to throw the baby on the road for safety.

After hearing her scream for help, the neighbours came to her rescue.

It was raining heavily.

Neighbours couldn’t drive her to hospital as the threats of attack were serious.

The woman is currently recovering  at the Gelephu CRRH.

Dzomlingthang chiwog representative, Ajay Kumar Monger, said that the woman and her three children lived in a temporary shed in the middle of the forest. There are only three houses in the area.

He said it took 45 minutes for the ambulance to arrive at the site. “The attack took place at 4:15am and the ambulance reached the site at 5am,” he said, adding that the driver couldn’t reach on time as they couldn’t locate the site of incident.

The chiwog is about 15 minutes away from the Gelephu Gewog Administration.

Human conflicts with elephants have drastically increased in the dzongkhag. In August, an elephant trampled a man to death. It was the second incident of death reported this year.

The damage to crops and properties are countless.

One of the local government (LG) leaders said that every night the LG leaders receive call for help to chase away the beasts. Many have filed reports of loss to the gewog administration offices.

Sarpang forest office has developed an app to enhance online reporting through the Human elephant conflict (HEC) project.