Maungdaw: Attacks by wild elephants on people in the border area between Burma and Bangladesh have increased recently because the Burmese Army is now catching elephants in the Mayu Range, said a local village elder from Maungdaw.
"The irate wild elephants have been attacking people because the Burmese authorities are trying to catch wild elephants on the border. A few people in Maungdaw Township were killed by wild elephants recently," he said.
Maung Hla ((9) from Sin Ma Kyunt Village in Maungdaw Township was killed by elephants during the first week of January, while Aung Tun (27) was hospitalized with critical injuries.
The elephants attacked the two while they were looking for vegetables near the village.
Last Friday, U Kyaw Tun from Aung Zaya Model Village in Maungdaw was also hospitalized with critical injuries after a group of elephants attacked him. A family member said, "His condition is very serious in the hospital because he received many injuries on his body when the elephants trampled him."
During the last week of December, one child and one elderly Muslim man were killed by wild elephants near Wra Tha Ya Village while they were looking for firewood in the jungle.
Many Bangladeshi people have also been killed or injured recently in wild elephant attacks.
According to an official source, two local Bangladeshis were killed by elephants in Dariardighi Village in Ramu Township near the Burmese border on 15 January, 2010.
The two were identified as Muji Bullah (35) and Gulbahar (45) from Dariardighi.
A group of eight to 10 elephants swooped on a group of people when they went to the nearby jungle to collect firewood, killing them on the spot, said a Bangladeshi police officer.
Two women from Lama Township in Bandarban Hill District were killed by wild elephants in December last year.
The wild elephants, alone and in groups, are now roaming along the Burma- Bangladesh border and attacking people they encounter. Such elephant attacks were rare in the past in the area.
A Chakmar elder from Dala Village in Nakhongsari Township told Narinjara, "It is correct, the attack by elephants against people on the border has increased recently because elephants are angry after losing their pastures. In Bangladesh, there is no deep forest for the wild elephants to live in."
On the Bangladesh side of the border, much of the deep forest in the mountains has been cleared by local businessmen so they can cultivate rubber, teak, and other tree crops.
According to a source close to the issue, many wild elephants have entered Bangladesh from Burma since December last year because five Burmese army groups based in the Buthidaung cantonment are catching the elephants along the border.
