By IANS
Guwahati : Two captive elephants were killed after the animals went on a rampage, killing eight villagers and wounding nine along the Assam-Mizoram border, officials said Thursday.
A Mizoram government official said the two pachyderms were killed Wednesday by troopers of the India Reserve Police near village Phainuam along the border with Assam's Cachar district.
"I was forced to give the firing order to kill the two elephants in a bid to save the lives of dozens or more villagers," H. Lalthlanglina, a magistrate in Mizoram, told IANS by telephone.
The elephants, owned by a local villager in southern Assam's Cachar district, went berserk late Tuesday mowing through five villages before entering Mizoram.
"Eight people, including five women, were killed and nine more injured. The beasts also damaged several houses in a radius of about 40 km," an Assam wildlife official said.
Seven of those who died were from Assam and one was from Mizoram.
"The elephants even attacked a church where several frightened villagers were taking shelter to escape the rampaging animals," Lalthlanglina said.
Experts said lack of work and poor nutrition could have resulted in some captive elephants displaying disturbing and sometimes dangerous behaviour.
"No work and all rest makes the elephants more virile as they are not in a position to burn their energy," said Kushal Konwar Sarma, a noted elephant expert and professor at the College of Veterinary Science in Assam's main city Guwahati.
"This phenomenon in elephants called 'musth' is dangerous and the animal sometimes goes berserk, killing people and rampaging in settlement areas."
Elephant keepers blame a 1996 court ruling banning illegal felling of trees for the pachyderms' plight.
"Our elephants used to work in timber transport and earned anything between Rs.40,000 to Rs.50,000 per month," said Rudra Baishya, who owns two elephants.
"Until recently, owning elephants was like being a king. Now keeping one elephant has become a real burden," Baishya said. "Today, the elephants don't earn even Rs.10,000 a year."
Authorities estimate there are about 2,500 captive elephants in India's northeast.
Elephants are still used in temple processions and to patrol forests while others are used for tourist rides. Some logging is also permitted but there is not enough work to ensure a good living for so many captive elephants