Man-Eating Elephant In India (VIDEO)

After a rogue elephant killed 17 people in India, locals knew it had to be stopped. Once the animal was killed, DNA tests on the contents of its stomach revealed something even more terrifying: the elephant had consumed human flesh.

According to zoologist Dave Salmoni, humans are to blame for the herbivore's shocking behavior. In this clip from his new TV show, he claims this particular man-eating elephant lashed out in an act of revenge after her calf was killed.

Elephants have recently witnessed their homes destroyed to make room for crop fields. Raids have forced elephant herds to split up, and the animals can grow exhausted and increasingly stressed and in turn, aggressive.

Elephants aren't the only ones reacting aggressively to human imposition. ABC News reports that in one part of India, tigers killed 14 people from just one village last year. The Bengal species is being threatened by rising sea levels and hunters encroaching on their territory.

But when it comes to the elephants, Salmoni is clear on who's to blame, stating that the animals "are man-made monsters. It's us, not the elephants, who will decide what happens next."

"World's Deadliest Towns: Killer Elephants" debuts February 21st on Animal Planet.

WATCH the man-eating elephant story:

Comments

[Jeronimo Suarez Riera]

07:02 PM on 03/17/2011

The journalist could at least walk or catch a bike instead of riding a motorbike. That was a ridiculous ending.
What happened after the elephant was killed? Was that just another patchy solution? Nothing was said about give the area back to the elephants.
Please, make complete news rather than super-effects! It's pathetic!

[Pink birrd]

05:28 PM on 03/08/2011

Poor elephant. I think there had to be some better solution than killing her.
I do not believe that she ate a person. That sounds like heresay baloney to me. I mean, were getting this info through folk-lore from India.

[gotopcat]

04:12 PM on 02/21/2011

Poor girl. Mankind again displaying his finest attributes...

[Richard Tiedemann]

01:22 PM on 02/21/2011

If one of our females was repeatedly chased from her home and source of food then had her baby killed by the cruel creatures causing this it would make sense that she turned her rage on the persecutors. Greed is the driving force behind the drive to exterminate any other living being that interferes with our desire for more and more.

[Corn Holio]

02:32 AM on 02/21/2011

Maybe Shiva the monkey in Oregon will take a note of this elephant's bravery and start her own revolution for the monkeys by eating Mr. Grove.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/health/20monkey.xml

[yogandclimber]

02:19 AM on 02/21/2011

if wild elephants were in the U.S. they would have been extinct a long time ago.

[Meesterclean]

03:45 AM on 02/21/2011

That is exactly what happened. Go to the La Brea Tar Pits.

[yogandclimber]

09:53 AM on 02/21/2011

Yeah there is no way in the US you'd have people trying to live and tolerate with elephants. They didn't want to kill this elephant because they understood why it was mad so they watched it for a while and it kept killing people. When it got to 17 people and started eating them then they decided to do it for safety.

[LUCABLEU]

01:45 AM on 02/21/2011

Yay Elephant!

[Souldrifter]

12:38 AM on 02/21/2011

Good for the elephants. Maybe we humans will get the picture and stop believing we're the center of the universe.

[CuteAndVicious]

01:48 AM on 02/22/2011

Someone told me in Environmental class that we had every right to test on animals, because they can't talk. Also because we were "all created on the 6th day". Oh yes. She brought all of that mess up in there.

[Souldrifter]

03:52 AM on 02/22/2011

*facepalm* Really? Creationism in (what I assume to be, due to the wording of your post) a non-religion based school? *sigh*

[Pink birrd]

05:19 PM on 03/08/2011

That's disgusting. I can't stand it when semi-religious people act like they 'know' the Bible. If she really remembered anything she read out of that book, she should have remembered that it also said that we were supposed to be the caretakers of the animals. Some Bible thumpers take it as 'we can exploit animals for our own use' but I do not think that is what it means. I bet she thinks Capital punishment is okay too.

[HippieSlug]

10:57 PM on 02/20/2011

Of course we had to kill the elephant, after screwing him up to begin with. Such an anthropocentric point of view, people feel they have the right to ruin the homes and lives of wild animals, and then wonder why peaceful animals like elephants become violent. Just because humans have "power" in societal/technological forms doesn't give us the right to feel superior to animals in any way. Humans have lost the inherent intelligence/connection with nature that every other living thing on this planet has.

[thromulese]

12:47 PM on 02/21/2011

Calling any animal a “jerk” is just so immature, and childish.

How old are you? Ten, eleven..

[thereisonlyoneparty]

05:13 PM on 02/21/2011

It is an apt description for elephants.

They are intelligent and big enough to not be afraid of most other animals.

Elephants in reality are not like the ones you see in zoos or circi.  They are big dangerous animals.  And they know it and use their power.

[Barbara Graham]

04:48 PM on 02/20/2011

Well, I laughed at the Simpsons when Stampy the elephant ate Homer. Hah! Hah! Hah! I said, in my best imitation of Tom Cruise. Everybody knows elephants don't eat people!

Well, I can admit when I'm wrong. Let's hope we don't become a trendy snack for foodie pachyderms.
Human pate with banana, anyone?

[peskime]

03:16 PM on 02/20/2011

An elephant never forgets

[Blackorpheus]

12:57 PM on 02/20/2011

Call me a Homo sapiens deserter, but I'm on the side of the elephants.

[pakaal]

02:34 PM on 02/20/2011

You'll never be called a "specist" with that kind of progressive attitude.

[personal beliefs]

10:49 AM on 02/21/2011

I agree, even the animal kingdom believes in an eye for an eye. I wish this view would be carried over into our species more. But consistency is hard to follow.

[Master-T]

12:35 PM on 02/20/2011

"According to zoologist Dave Salmoni, humans are to blame for the herbivore's shocking behavior. Elephants have recently witnessed their homes destroyed to make room for crop fields. Raids have forced elephant herds to split up, and the animals can grow exhausted and increasingly stressed and in turn, aggressive."

I couldn't agree more with that assessment. There's nothing I can even add to improve upon it, other than that elephants are incredibly social, emotional, and intelligent animals. Shame on humans for how we have treated them. Shame on anyone who poaches these - or any - animals. Shame on people for attending circuses and zoos. I don't blame the elephant at all for turning on people. Not one bit.

[Bryan Rae]

11:54 AM on 02/20/2011

its nelly pay back time