Photos of the Burning Baby Elephant and Other Sanctuary Wildlife Photography Finalists

The photo depicting an elephant and his cub running away from an angry mob won the grand prize this year at the Sanctuary Asia wildlife photography contest.

A picture called "Hell is here" was taken by Biplab Khazra in the Bankura district of West Bengal. In this territory, a serious conflict between people and animals has been going on for a long time. The photo shows how the crowd throws burning balls of resin at the fleeing animals so as not to let them get close to the settlement of people.

Describing the horror of what is happening, the Refuge of Nature Foundation, which established the photo contest, says: "In the Bengal region of West Bengal, such cruelties are absolutely routine, as in other states where elephants live, such as Assam, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu and others."

The photo shows that the elephant runs away, engulfed in flames. According to the author of the picture, the kid "managed to survive by some miracle." Khazra also said that the baby elephant may not have been set on fire intentionally at all, and throwing fire to drive herds of elephants from the village here is common practice.

Be that as it may, a photograph with a lively elephant calf screaming in pain cannot but horrify. I really want to hope that the terrible situation will change and the locals will find more humane ways to keep animals out of their settlement.

We present to your attention other works that have become finalists and winners of the competition in various categories.