A killer elephant, dubbed 'Osama Bin Laden' after he killed over a dozen people last summer, has been shot dead near Guwahati, in India's Assam state.
Laden the elephant was tracked down by professional elephant hunters after a shoot-to-kill order was issued following the death of a woman in December. The rogue bull has trampled 14 people to death in the past six months in the northeastern state, officials say. Humans and elephants have come into greater conflict in recent years as man encroaches on jungle territories.
Villagers played drums and brandished flames to scare the elephant into a corner of a tea estate after he was spotted there, Assam wildlife wardens told reporters. "As the villagers did their bit to scare the rogue tusker, our forest guards kept firing in the air to drive Laden towards the trap hunter Dwipen Phukan had set for it."
"But it was no easy kill because once in sight of Phukan, the elephant charged furiously," said wildlife chief MC Malakar. Phukan, a licensed hunter, said: "It was charging towards me and I kept firing. Another few yards and it would have run over me." Laden was branded a "rogue"-- a violent, isolated elephant-- in the summer after the deaths reached double figures. Assam sits on the corridor used by Siamese elephants, a corridor that stretches from northern Thailand to the foothills of Bhutan.
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