Jalpaiguri: An elephant stood guard to protect a four-year-old girl from its own herd, who had had a minor accident while travelling on a scooter on Thursday.
This surprising incident occurred on National Highway 31 near Garumara forest when a family of three was returning to Lataguri after offering puja at a temple inside the forest.
The highway divides the forest into two parts.
On Thursday, businessman Nitu Ghosh with his wife Titli and four-year-old daughter Ahana, while returning from Lataguri, stopped mid-way when they spotted a herd of elephants crossing the highway.
After a while, assuming that the herd had crossed, Ghosh family resumed their journey.
However, some other members of the herd that was still inside the jungle appeared on the road and the scooter almost ran into them.
Nitu Ghosh applied brakes but lost control over his scooter and all three of them fell down.
At this time one of the elephants stepped forward and protected little Ahana by standing over her and kept her safely between its legs. The elephant protected the little girl from its own herd.
Sensing the trouble the family was in, a truck driver who was waiting behind Ghosh’s scooter rushed to their rescue hooting the horn of his vehicle madly to scare away the tuskers.
The elephants then quickly left the spot and Ahana was safely back in her mother’s arms.
The truck driver rushed the family to a nursing home in Jalpaiguri. While the parents suffered minor injuries, the little girl is said to have no injuries but only traumatised by the whole incident.
Elephants are in news all the time for their attacks on humans and the destruction they cause. But this ‘humane’ gesture by this wild animal is winning hearts all over.
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