Similar to a famous children’s story book written and illustrated by Judith Kerr known as ‘The Tiger who came to Tea’  describes a tale of a girl called Sophie and her mother who hear their door bell ring while sitting to have a cup of afternoon tea. A stripy cat ‘A Tiger’ unexpectedly turns up at their door step and is invited into their house. The Tiger in return drinks all the tea, eats all the food and finishes all the water in the taps which does not leave any water for the girl to have her evening bath. Her father returns back home and takes the family out for a meal. While out, the girl and her mother buy lots of Tiger food expecting the tiger to return the next day. The Tiger never comes back.

The Tusker who came to Tea is also in same lines just that this Tusker is a wild (Male) Asiatic Elephant who walked into a tea garden based in the North Eastern state of Assam (India) on the 18th of November 2011 at 3:30pm and caused massive human animal conflicts in the outer divisions of the area. There was no welcome of any sort like Sophie - the girl from the Tiger who came to Tea but instead the reality was that the elephant was only trying to find its corridors in the wilderness and turned up to the neighbouring tea gardens to find its path.

These are common problems faced in most parts of India where existing animal corridors remain. The impacts are often huge.

People lose their yearly crop through raiding, and also loose livestock, property and sometimes even lives. The animals, many of which certain species are already threatened or endangered, are often killed in retaliation or to prevent ‘future’ conflicts. The balance in wildlife conservation is to mitigate impacts and have areas or corridors available which do not harm future wild populations.

Wish like the Tiger who came for Tea - reality would be the same for this Tusker as well.