A 49-year-old farmer has died after he was reportedly attacked by a herd of elephants in Itasin, a community in Ijebu East Local Government Area of Ogun State.
The development has triggered outrage in the community where human-animal conflicts have been recorded many times.
This platform learnt that the incident which occured on Monday afternoon involved the farmer identified as Musa Yahaya Kala, and his son.
But the son was lucky to escape, sources told our correspondent.
While some residents identified the victim as a farmer, other sources described him as a logger falling trees within the elephant’s domain.
“Yes, it is true,” a member of the State House of Assembly representing Ijebu East constituency, Owode Waliu revealed.
Waliu quoted eyewitnesses to have said that the victim was attacked lying down under the tree on his farmland.
But an informed source familiar with elephant activities in the area, described him as a logger.
“Yesterday (Monday), someone was killed by an elephant in the Itasin forest. This has never been done as of 2018 when they got there. Elephants are gentle giants.
“In this case, he was going for logging and confronted a small group of elephants using his chainsaw. Many people, including myself, have never been in such a situation.
“When you meet them and it’s their first time seeing you, they will find out who you are. If you are not a treat to them, they leave you alone. The crust of trees is the main food for forest elephants,” the source told the Newsmen.
The source added that “Logging was banned in the area. Some of them just can’t understand.”
Also confirming the incident, the Commissioner for Forestry, Taiwo Oludotun, described the location of the incident as a conservation area with about 4,000 hectares.
“The elephants killed one person. We are on our way there to see what actually happened and to sympathise with the family and see how we can bring sanity to the area. We are almost there,” he said.
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