Wild Elephant Tramples Man After He Gets Too Close For A Selfie
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Don't Let Its Looks Fool You, An Elephant Kills At Least 17 People In Series Of Attacks

Don't let its looks fool you. This elephant is a natural-born killer. A single elephant has killed at least 17 people in a series of attacks. That's more than some serial killers for the record.

The animal has left a reign of terror across India. Within several days, it's killed at least 17, including four family members. According to reports from the Times of India, the elephant has caused 12 separate attacks since the beginning of the new year. It's attacked and killed people across the West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand.

Officials believe it's a young adult male. On January 7, a woman joined the victims' list when she passed away at a local hospital. The elephant also decapitated a 40-year-old man as well. In another attack, it killed an entire family of four, which included two children and their parents. So far, wildlife officials haven't been able to track down the animal.

Elephant Kills Many

But government agencies are searching for the elephant. They plan to tranq and relocate the animal, according to divisional forest officer Aditya Narayan.

"We are still camping in the fields while trying to trace the elephant with multiple teams, but it wasn't spotted today," Narayan told the Times,

The animal's movement pattern "suggests that it is haphazardly running around a 100-km [about 62 miles] circumference across three forest divisions." West Singhbhum Deputy Commissioner Chandan Kuma wants to avoid any more deaths. Officials are helping villagers relocate outside the animal's current path of terror.
They're trying to mitigate the loss of life while they track down the animal.

"We are planning to shift them to the nearest safer places from the critical areas," Kumar said.

Reportedly, the elephant has mostly attacked at night. Villagers have resorted to having patrol teams stay awake and using firecrackers to try to scare off the animal. The animal is reportedly in musth, which is a hormonal state that causes severe aggression.