http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGB4T915I1E.htmlRampaging Elephants Stomp Through Northeast India Villages, Quaff Local Beer Supplies
GAUHATI, India (AP) - Wild elephant herds have been terrorizing India's remote northeast, killing people, flattening houses and even guzzling local rice beer supplies, prompting villagers to retaliate against the pachyderms with firecrackers and bonfires.
With an estimated 5,000 elephants, Assam state has the largest concentration of wild Asiatic elephants in India, said M.C. Malakar, Assam's Chief Wildlife Warden.
The big herds, faced with shrinking forest cover and human encroachment of their corridors, venture into human settlements looking for food and attack those who try to stop them.
The wild elephants have stampeded across the region, stomping down houses and feasting on standing crops, Pradyut Bordoloi, Assam state's forest minister, said Saturday.
Rice beer is an attraction. Workers in tea plantations in Assam make rice beer at home and store it in drums.
"There are many instances of wild elephants guzzling the brew and returning for more," Bordoloi said.
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