'He Was One of Us': Residents of Assam Village Bid Tearful Farewell to Beloved Elephant

Residents of Assam’s Kaliabor Hatimura village bid a tearful goodbye to their beloved wild elephant last Sunday.

Known as ‘hatimura burha baba’, the elephant had become a part of the villagers’ lives in the past three years after it was hit by a train and badly injured. Unable to fetch food on his own, the male pachyderm would roam around in people’s courtyard and the villagers, taking pity on his condition, would provide him food.

As the village performed the animal’s last rites on Sunday, children offered flowers and seemed particularly torn by his death. “He was like one of us and never harmed us,” a villager said, adding that the elephant’s body was found in the Tengabari area close by.

Forest officials from Kaziranga, who conducted a post-mortem on the tusker, said the elephant was old and suffering from diseases.