Wild elephant damages houses in Rathedaung Twsp village

06 Aug 2022

DMG Newsroom
6 August 2022, Rathedaung

A wild elephant destroyed some houses in Zedi Pyin village, part of Arakan State’s Rathedaung Township, on Friday morning, according to local residents.

The elephant is thought to have come down from the Mayu mountain range and destroyed five houses and some fences in Zedi Pyin, said villager Ko Aung Min Soe.

“As soon as it entered the village, it destroyed a house. As villagers tried to scare it off, it crashed into other houses while running. No one was injured,” he told DMG.

U Khin Maung Win, whose house was badly damaged, said: “My house was the first house damaged by the elephant as it is located at the far corner of the village. My house is badly damaged. The financial loss might be around 4 million kyats. All the things sold at our kiosk were damaged.”

The wild elephant left the village after it was scared off by villagers. It has been a decade since wild elephants appeared in Zedi Pyin, according to locals, who speculated that Friday’s interloper may have gotten separated from its herd.

Human-elephant conflicts are common in other parts of Arakan State, with destruction of homes and paddy fields frequently accompanying these interactions, and occasional deaths reported.

A man in Maungdaw Township was injured in a wild elephant encounter on November 29, 2021. In July 2020, a man was trampled to death by a wild elephant, also in Maungdaw Township.