The carcass of a pregnant wild elephant was found on 27th May in Velliyar River under Mannarkkad forest division, Malappuram district in Kerala. According to officials an unidentified malefactor gave the elephant a pineapple filled with fire-crackers to eat. By doing so, the elephant heavily injured its mouth, jaw and tongue. It survived this horrific incident but it took a week to die a painful death for the animal.

“Her jaw was broken and she was unable to eat after she chewed the pineapple and it exploded in her mouth. It is certain that she was offered the pineapple filled with crackers to eliminate her,” said Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden Surendrakumar.

Samuel Pachuau, Wildlife warden of the Silent Valley Natural Park said, “It was a tragic incident and blatant animal abuse. We will intensify patrolling to avoid such incidents. What we found was that the injury was a week old and the elephant couldn’t eat or drink. It was cruel.”

This incident came to light after Forest officer Mohan Krishnan reported this gruesome incident in an emotional Facebook post. He wrote, “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.”

“When we saw her she was standing in the river, with her head dipped in the water. She had a sixth sense that she was going to die. She took the Jalasamadhi in the river in a standing position,” added Mohan.

Dr David Abraham, assistant forest veterinary officer said, “The foetus was just a month old. When we first saw the elephant, we realised that it will not survive given its injuries and week- long ordeal. Normally, injured elephants will move to water sources and we found the carcass in the river,” on accidentally discovering the elephant was pregnant.

“Women officials were also present for the procedure and they wept when we found the foetus inside the elephant. It was a sad moment for the entire team. I think this is the first such instance where a pregnant wild elephant was killed using explosives in such a cruel manner,” said another forest department official.

Here is how the social media is responding to this heartbreaking incident :

 

This was indeed a horrific incident, we hope that the culprits of this heinous crime are caught soon.

Follow on Google News
TOPICS: Wildlife