Kathmandu (dpa) – A wild elephant has killed a 12-year-old boy outside his home near a national park in south-central Nepal, a wildlife official said Friday.
The elephant had strayed into the village of Suwarnapur on Thursday when it encountered the boy, said Nurendra Aryal, spokesman for Chitwan National Park, Nepal’s largest wildlife sanctuary.
“The elephant must have been looking for rice that grows in the buffer zone adjacent to the park. It trampled the boy to death,” he told dpa.
Aryal said a local forest users’ committee would give the boy’s family about 50,000 Nepali rupees (487 dollars) in compensation. “The state would provide another 1 million rupees to his family as per the law,” he said.
The conflict between wild animals and humans has increased in recent years in Nepal, raising concerns about the safety of people living near protected areas.
