In the book Shooting an Elephant Why do the local officials want something done about the elephant?

One interpretation is that the elephant represents Imperialism, which is oppressing the Burmese people. The elephant already killed a coolie, which represents imperialism taking over the people on a small scale. The elephant needs to be killed before it oppresses the people even further.

To look at the story from a literal sense, the elephant needed to be killed simply because it already killed one of the citizens and it posed as a threat to the people's safety.