I Love (the end of) This Story

[Content Note: Animal attack.]

Well, I don't love the first part of the story, which is a tale of an elephant in India destroying a house. That's a thing that happens sometimes, not just with elephants, when humans and animals' habitats bump up against each other in ways that animals can't understand, even in spaces where humans have tried to be sensitive to territorial encroachments. It's not animals' fault, really, which is not to minimize the very real human grief of losing a pet to a coyote or a house to an elephant or whatever.

So. The thing is, this male elephant destroyed part of a family's house, at least the 17th house it has seen fit to damage. But then this happened:

Dipak Mahato and his wife Lalita say a male elephant attacked their house in a village in West Bengal's Purulia district...

Mr Mahato told The Times of India his family were eating at about 8pm when they suddenly heard a "cracking sound" and crashing noises coming from the bedroom.

"We ran over and were shocked to see the wall in pieces and a tusker standing over our baby," he said. "She was crying and there were huge chunks of the wall lying all around and on the cot. The tusker started moving away but when our child started crying again, it returned and used its trunk to remove the debris."

Ms Mahato said they watched in amazement as the animal gently removed pieces of brick and stone that had fallen on her daughter.

"I can't believe that the tusker saved my daughter after breaking down the door and smashing a wall."

The child was taken to Deben Mahato Sadar Hospital and treated for external injuries, according to the newspaper. She is expected to make a full recovery.

It's remarkable how many animals are intuitively sensitive to babies of other species.

I'm not one to anthropomorphize non-human animals, but I am constantly fascinated (as you might have noticed) by the things we share in common.