Wild elephant hunted after it killed 4 people

From wire reports  • 

KATMANDU, NEPAL -- Soldiers in Nepal are on the hunt for a wild elephant after it strayed into villages in the southern part of the Himalayan nation and killed four people in three months, officials said yesterday.

On Saturday, the elephant walked into a thatched house in Gardi village, adjoining Chitwan National Park, 50 miles south of Kathmandu, and pulled an elderly couple from bed before trampling them to death, said Shiva Ram Gelal, an assistant district administrator in Bharatpur, the nearest city.

Park officials say the same beast killed two other villagers less than three months ago.

“We have given orders to the army to shoot the elephant that has gone mad,” Gelal told Reuters. “ Soldiers are now searching for it.”

Nepal has about 300 elephants, including more than 100 domesticated ones that are used by hotels and national parks to take tourists on jungle rides to watch wild animals such as one-horned Asian rhinoceroses and Royal Bengal tigers.

Elephants are protected by law, and anyone convicted of killing one faces up to 15 years in prison. However, Gelal said the Local Administration Act, a Nepali law, allows authorities to kill the animal if it is responsible for the loss of human life.