A tusker elephant wandered into a village in India and attacked a young family consisting of a father, mother and a young child. 

The man, his wife and his toddler son were walking to a fair in the early evening, when the elephant battered the young mother with its trunk, causing multiple injuries. The man watched in shock and grabbed his son in his arms, and the elephant attacked them as well. Their screams managed to scare the elephant and it ran back into the forest.

In India, elephants and humans are trying to learn how to live together. Due to the increase in human populations, elephant habitats are shrinking and elephants are wandering into the villages. The encounters are not always friendly. 

Climate change is also a major source of human-wildlife conflict. With water sources drying up, elephants are forced to seek new places to drink.

Authorities arrived at the scene and transported the seriously injured family to a local hospital.

People who live in the villages near the Telkoi forest are afraid of the tusker elephants and many people are afraid to walk outside at night. Forest rangers advise people to stay home to reduce the risk of being hurt.

Although elephants are generally known to be gentle, they can be dangerous when they are provoked or angry.

Last year, in August, an elephant attacked its handler in Thailand because it was forced to work in a heatwave. 

The elephant, named Pom Pam, stabbed its 32-year-old handler with its tusks several times, ripping his body apart.

The handler was forcing the 20-year-old elephant to haul rubber wood from a plantation for four days in the 89-degree heat. Pom Pam was exhausted.

Authorities found the gigantic elephant near the man’s body and shot her with a sedative to allow rescue workers to retrieve the dead man’s body.

Elephants can weigh up to 8,000 pounds and can trample people. Their strong, thick trunks can injure or kill people and animals.