A pregnant elephant was killed in Kerala’s Malappuram after she was fed a pineapple laced with explosives by locals last week. The elephant was in such great pain that she died standing in a river — an extremely unusual sight.
The heartbreaking incident was shared by Mohan Krishnan, Section Forest Officer, Nilambur on social media.
The elephant had wandered into the village area in search of food. There some locals fed her a pineapple in which they had hidden firecrackers — a common tactic to drive away wild boars.
As the elephant ate the fruit, the firecracker burst in her mouth, causing her immeasurable pain.
“First, we observed this animal on May 23 when we were informed by locals that an elephant has been roaming around in the private area of the forest. When one of our staff members went to see the elephant, it was observed that the wound in the lower jaw area was exposed. Later, for at least 24 hours the animal was trying to look for water and on May 24 we received information that the animal has come into river Velliyar,” said Wildlife Officer, Silent Valley National Park.
“Even then, the animal did not take any solid food and only took water. It was very weak, so we called a vet. He was of the opinion that it may not be possible to get her back but would see what options were available. Later we were told to observe the animal’s behaviour,” he added.
The Wildlife Officer said they later planned to take the elephant out of the river but by then she had collapsed.
“Today we thought of taking the animal to a safe spot to examine. Anyway, we had very little hope of reviving the animal because it has not been eating for many days. Before we could take the animal out of the stream, it had collapsed and we hope it was a peaceful death,” he said.
The officer informed that two doctors are here at the spot to carry out the post-mortem and after that, the carcass will be burnt.
“The cause for the death is yet to be discovered and further investigation is underway,” he added.
The elephant was seen standing in the river with her mouth and trunk in the water, for relief from the pain.
FIR Lodged
Following massive outrage, an FIR has been lodged against unidentified people under relevant sections of Wild Life Protection Act over the incident, said Mannarkkad forest range officer.
The Kerala Forest department also took to Twitter to state Article 51-A (g) of the Indian Constitution dictates that it is the duty of every citizen to be compassionate to animals.
Article 51-A (g) of the Indian Constitution says that it shall be duty of every citizen of India to have compassion for living creatures. The pregnant elephant in pic was killed in human- wildlife conflict.Action has already been initiated. But where lies our duty? N humanity?? pic.twitter.com/V1ufNt3HfN
— Kerala Forest Department (@ForestKerala) June 3, 2020
Forest officials said investigation was underway to ascertain the cause of the incident.
Using snares to trap or kill an animal is a punishable offence under the Wildlife Protection Act.