Drunk Elephants

When I saw the headline, "Drunk Elephants Ransack Indian Town" I had to immediately go to the story to see what happened.  It appears that in a small town in India, of course it's India a heard of 50 Asian elephants got a whiff of some booze and headed to a nearby store for a snort.  The thirsty pachyderms broke into the store, quite easily I may add and downed 100 litres of an Indian booze called Muhua.  Don't ask me how to say it....MUHUA.  Maybe the owner of your local quick mart can help you with this one.  Anyway, after downing the sauce, they were still thirsty and wanted more.  The elephants then ripped through the entire town looking for Muhua, like a drug addict rummaging for a clean needle.  They trampled crops and knocked down buildings in their pursuit for the elusive elixir.  One man recalled that they broke through the front of his house and found a small stash of the stuff that he had stored away.  After ransacking just about everything in site, the villagers finally steered them away and back into the jungle.  Police spokesman Asish Samanat said the animals have developed a taste for the alcohol because of their close vicinity to humans. And just like man, when these gentle giants get drunk they become "aggressive and unreasonable."

This is not the first time elephants have gone "Ape" over booze.  In 2002, a herd of drunken elephants trampled 6 people to death after they broke into a supply of homemade rice beer.  They had actually been looking for food when they stumbled across something better.  "They smashed huts and plundered granaries and broke open casks to drink rice beer. The herd then went berserk killing six people," a forestry official told AFP news agency.  In 2007, 40 wild elephants went on a bender of rice beer after they entered a village in search of food.  Six of them went berserk, uprooted a utility pole and were electrocuted.  In 2010, seventy elephants got drunk on rice beer and went on a 4 day rampage killing 3 people and flattening dozens of homes.  It was reported that after the rampage, the elephants were seen sleeping off their bender.

As funny as this is, the sad fact is that the elephant versus people population is becoming a problem.  In every case, the elephants were looking for nothing more than some food.  The rapidly rising population of India is pushing these majestic creatures to the brink of starvation.  As the people spread out, the land available for the elephants becomes less and less.  They are being pushed to the brink and they are not going to stand for it.  When a herd of 2 ton elephants decides to go looking for a meal, get the hell out of the way and let them eat.  It is like a group of 300 pound plus guys storming the Chinese buffet.  The bottom line her is the elephants are being pushed to the brink of extinction.  They are large and they are intelligent. They can coexist with man if we are smart enough to do so.  One thing man needs to remember, when the herd comes a knockin', the town will be a rockin'.