14 DAY TRIAL // A family in West Bengal experienced some terrifying moments when a ravaging male elephant knocked down a wall of their house, trapping their 10-month-old baby girl under the debris. However, the big animal turned back and rescued the infant with its trunk.
The family was eating dinner at their home in a village in Purulia district when they heard a cracking sound coming from the bedroom. It was the wall falling down.
“We ran over and were shocked to see the wall in pieces and a tusker standing over our baby. She was crying and there were huge chunks of the wall lying all around and in the cot,” the baby's father Dipak Mahato told the Times of India.
After attacking their house and putting their daughter's life in danger, the elephant did a surprising gesture that shocked the couple: as if he was trying to make up for his wrongdoings, the animal carefully removed every piece of stone from the girl's little body with his trunk after hearing her cries.
Then, he moved away, heading towards the forest. The infant's parents stood still and watched in amazement as the massive elephant cleared away the debris and saved the child from under the rubble.
“I can't believe that the tusker saved my daughter after breaking down the door and smashing a wall. We watched amazed as it gently removed the debris that had fallen on her. It's a miracle,” the mother Lalita Mahato told the same publication.
They immediately took the baby to Deben Mahato Sadar Hospital, where doctors treated her for some cuts and bruises, but she is expected to make a full recovery. However, medics decided to keep her under observation for 48 hours.
This kind of incidents has become more common in recent years in the area due to massive changes in the habitat of wildlife. Currently, there are entire towns where elephants' traditional migration routes used to be, so the number of deadly confrontations between humans and animals has increased.
Local ranger Samir Bose said the animal has damaged at least 17 houses in Mathadi, Kasidih and Ghoshra village areas and has killed at least three people last year. That's why everybody was surprised to find out that the tusker rescued the girl.
“What's really surprising is that this elephant left the little girl alive even after damaging the house. It seems to have a heart, too,” he said.