'There will be a change in the taste of the rice, and it cannot be kept for a long period of time. A huge proportion was eaten by the elephants, and people simply wouldn't pay as much for what was left. He lost a significant percentage of his usual income from that harvest. The herd used their trunks to batter down the fence and climbed up the slope to the paddies. Kuber's fields are right next to the border electric fence and the river. Rice farmer Kuber Bhandari might have to switch to a different crop to keep his farm profitable. This story isn’t uncommon in Bahundangi, Jhapa, a region in Nepal that borders north-east India. He broke his spine and seriously damaged his intestines. The elephant threw Kamal 35 metres across the paddy, and Kamal landed on his back on the hard, raised earth that bordered the field. 'The elephant himself was very afraid too, so he tried to throw me … after a while I lost my energy.' I thought at the time I'm going to die, the elephant is going to kill me,' Kamal says. 'I grabbed it very hard and the elephant started to spin his trunk. He didn't realise he had wrapped his arms around an elephant's trunk. When he came to, he grabbed the nearest thing he could find to drag himself to his feet. 'The elephants attacked to defend themselves.'Īs the elephants drove the villagers back, Kamal turned and ran, terrified for his life.

'People went to save, throwing hay lit with fire,” Kamal says. Kamal Rai was severly injured by an elephant at a farm.

Outlines of elephants