How cruel can a human being get? Are there words to describe the pain after someone’s death? It even gets disgusting when the victim is an innocent animal.. And the death of a pregnant elephant is stomach-turning!

The poor animal died in Kerala, on May 27, standing in water, after she ate a pineapple filled with firecrackers, which exploded in her mouth, and was allegedly left by some locals.

A forest officer revealed the incident on social media. In search of food, the wild elephant had left the forests of Silent Valley in Palakkad district, and kept wandering around the nearby village.

Forest officials suspect that she has eaten a pineapple with country-made crackers, as such fruits are usually used by locals to protect their fields against wild boars.

Ashique Ali, a local forest officer, believes that “ the explosion fractured the bones and caused a lot of damage to the mouth”, so the animal became too weak because she couldn’t eat anything, and she walked around in hunger and pain.

Forest officer Mohan Krishnan, who was part of the Rapid Response Team to rescue the 15-year-old elephant, wrote on Facebook:

“She trusted everyone. When the pineapple she ate exploded, she must have been shocked not thinking about herself, but about the child, she was going to give birth to in 18 to 20 months.

She didn’t harm a single human being even when she ran in searing pain in the streets of the village. She didn’t crush a single home. This is why I said, she is full of goodness.”

The animal eventually walked up to the Velliyar River and stood there, with the mouth and trunk in the water, probably for some relief from the pain.

Forest officers initially found the injured elephant on May 23, but couldn’t immobilize her. Two days later, they were informed that it was standing in the river.

They brought two captive elephants, Surendran and Neelakanthan, to lead her out of the river, but Krishnan said that “she had a sixth sense” and didn’t allowed them to do anything.

After hours of attempts by the officials to rescue the elephant, she died at 4 pm on May 27, standing in water.

She was then transported back to the forest in a truck and was cremated. The veterinary official who conducted her post-mortem reported that she was one-month pregnant.

Krishnan wrote:

“She needs to be given the farewell she deserves. For that, we took her inside the forest in a lorry. She lay there on firewood, in the land she played and grew up. The doctor who did her post-mortem told me that she was not alone. I could sense his sadness though the expression on his face was not visible due to his mask. We cremated her in a pyre there. We bowed before her and paid our last respects.” 

The shocking case has sparked a criminal investigation into suspected cruelty toward animals.

Numerous teams are searching the area for clues on the death of the poor animal. Forest minister K Raju informed that so far, one person has been arrested in connection with the killing of the pregnant elephant, named Wilson, who carries out farming in areas around Ambalappara.

The perpetrators could face animal cruelty charges that could bring fines or even a jail term.

India’s environment minister Prakash Javadekar, wrote on Twitter:

“Central Government has taken a very serious note of the killing of an elephant in Mallapuram, #Kerala. We will not leave any stone unturned to investigate properly and nab the culprit(s). This is not an Indian culture to feed firecrackers and kill.”

Sources:
www.livescience.com
indianexpress.com
metro.co.uk
www.thenewsminute.com