Today's video is inspired by a Wikipedia article on Osama bin Laden.
Elephant.
Yes, this is about an actual elephant, who was branded a terrorist and named Osama bin
Laden.
Why?
Well, bin Laden was a very bad elephant - or was he?
Let's review the facts.
As you might expect from a story about Osama bin Laden, our tale takes us back to the early
2000's.
Human expansion in northeast India has resulted in the destruction of elephants' natural habitats
and the increasing encroachment of human settlements on elephant territory.
This has lead to humans and elephants living close together, and occassionally interacting
with eachother - and not always in a positive way.
On one hand, the elephants have watched the humans intrude on their territory and even
destroy much of it, forcing the elephants to either move away or forage for food amongst
the human settlements.
On the other hand, if you're a human and an elephant comes into your village, well, holy
shit it's a massive fucking beast that weighs literal tonnes and has two massive spikes
coming out of its damn face.
Even if it's not being aggressive it's still an animal, y'know it's just trampling around
knocking things over, breaking things, eating your food, endangering small children.
And it's not like a dog or something, you can't just build a fence and tell it to fuck
off, an elephant can just do what it wants.
So it's no surprise then that these two species have found themselves in conflict, and they've
had plenty of opportunities to unleash their aggression out on one another.
In Assam in India, between 2001 and 2006, more than 250 people were killed by elephants,
while villagers killed 268 elephants.
This is unfortunate because Asian elephants are an endangered and protected species in
India.
Legally, them villagers shouldn't be killing elephants at all.
The elephants are to be left alone.
That is, until an elephant goes "rogue", and that's where Osama bin Laden comes in.
In 2004, an Asian elephant came to the attention of the people of Assam, India.
Having no tusks and thought to be between 45 and 50 years old, the elephant began a
two-year campaign of terror, destroying people's homes and property and trampling dozens of
people.
It's believed this particular elephant killed at least 27 people, earning him the nickname
"Osama bin Laden", by villagers who viewed the threat he posed as terroristic.
In 2006, the people had had enough of Osama bin Laden, and Assam's local assembly labelled
him a "rogue" elephant, ordering the forestry officials to kill him and giving them a deadline
to do so.
Up until now bin Laden had enjoyed the protection of being an endangered species, but as a rogue
elephant, he no longer enjoyed such protections.
Elephant hunters came after him, but bin Laden proved to be a tricky character, going into
hiding and moving from place to place.
He had managed to evade the hunters, until one day he appeared in a tea plantation.
Forest wardens were aided by villagers, who used drums and fire to drive the animal towards
a waiting hunter.
However, bin Laden seemed to sense the trap, and immediately charged the hunter as soon
as he spotted him.
The hunter opened fire, and kept firing, until the elephant's charge was stopped a few yards
away.
Osama bin Laden was dead.
Ladies and gentlemen, we got him.
Rest in peace, Osama bin Laden.
Gone, but not forgotten.
...Or is he?
Conservationists were not so sure, pointing out the fact that the tea plantation was more
than 50 miles away from his usual stomping grounds.
While the elephant had no tusks, forestry officials quickly buried it without verifying
its footprints or dimensions, leading some to believe they had not killed the rogue elephant,
but an innocent lookalike.
Just like the real bin Laden.
Some say Osama bin Laden is still out there somewhere, roaming the forests and remote
villages, looking for crops to eat, property to destroy, and heads to squish.
Probably not though as this happened nearly 20 years ago and he was already thought to
be quite old.
But, it's not out of the question.
So before you tuck yourself in tonight, make sure you lock all your doors, and check under
your bed - you never know where bin Laden might be lurking.
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Thanks.