
This is the moment angry residents in India launched firebombs at a mother elephant and her calf in a bid to stop the confused animals wandering onto their crops in India.

The images, taken in Bishnupur, India, show the extreme lengths the inhabitants go to to deter elephants from damaging their property.

Men can be seen hurling firebombs at a mother and its calf, with the flames causing the panicked animals to run across a road. In another picture, villagers launch stones at a herd passing through their community.

Heartbreaking photos also show a family of elephants attempting to navigate a railway line built straight through their habitat.

Elephants wandering in to villages and communities is an increasingly common occurrence amid deforestation across India.

Angry villagers go to extreme lengths to chase off elephants in the town of Bishnupur, India. Here a mother and a small calf are being chased away by locals using at least four firebombs

As the pair of elephants try to cross the road in India they are chased away by the locals who repeatedly launch a barrage of firebombs at the huge animals as they flee to take shelter

If villagers do not have access to firebombs to make the elephants leave, they use burning torches to wave at the huge beats. Here a group of men are chasing away a herd of wild elephants

If they are not swiping at the elephants with fiery sticks, then the villagers are taking pictures of them on their mobile phones. Here a group of young men chase away a herd of wild elephants while brandishing their camera phones to record the incident

A mother elephant and her calf try to navigate the railway tracks constructed through their natural habitat. Photographer Biplab Hazra said the aim of his pictures was to heighten awareness about the issues that elephants face with the increasing threat their habitat is under

A group of men chase away a herd of wild elephants as they walk across a wide road in Bishnupur, India. Elephants encroaching out of their habitats is an increasingly common occurrence with deforestation in much of the country

A large herd of elephants cross a railway track that has been built across their natural habitat in Bishnupur, India. Photographer Biplab Hazra, who took the heartbreaking images said: 'There are many elephant corridors in human habitations'

An angry elephant chases a group of men across farmland as they run through knee-deep water and high crops. Mr Hazra added: 'This happens because the villagers have to save their crops'