Unlike other places in the world, Indian police on Monday used elephants and excavators to evict hundreds of people in a protected forest area in northeastern Assam state. /CCTV.com Photo

The jumbo animals are able to reach some settlements more easily than excavators. /CCTV.com Photo

Police commissioner Hiren Nath told AP that their actions were in line with a court order, but people living in the jungle shacks argued that they had legally bought the land before finding that it sat within a protected forestry area. /CCTV.com Photo

Five protesters were injured in a scuffle after police deployed teargas to disperse them, according to Nath. /CCTV.com Photo

Authorities plan to demolish about 1,000 bamboo and tin huts. The eviction comes as debate ensues about the shrinking size of elephant habitats and the growing population in Indians encroaching on wild spaces. According to a 2014 forestry department survey, about 6,000 people have built homes inside the wildlife sanctuary in 24 locations. /CCTV.com Photo