A pregnant wild elephant in Kerala died on May 27 after she ate a pineapple filled with firecrackers that was allegedly offered to her by some locals.
The elephant who originally belonged to Silent Valley National Park (SVNP), Palakkad remained calm though she was under excruciating pain. She did not create a ruckus much to the disbelief of the forest department officials.
She faced one of the most brutal forms of animal abuse as the fruit exploded in her mouth, leading to her death.
A public discourse started after the incident was brought to attention when a forest official from Kerala’s Malappuram district posted about the horrific incident on Facebook. Mohan Krishnan, a forest department section officer was part of the Rapid Response Team that had attempted the rescue.
It has been alleged that the elephant was injured after it was fed/offered a pineapple stuffed with explosives. The Logical Indian too had reported on those lines.
A pregnant elephant in India, Kerala was fed a pineapple stuffed with fire crackers. She tried to save her baby by drinking the river water but failed to, and ended up dying pic.twitter.com/5c2sSAHAnp
— z (@factsNotea) June 4, 2020
We have no right to take anyone’s life, specially not for fun. When a small thing happens to us, we start cursing the year or god etc. But, deep down, we know that all of the problems we are facing, is nature’s way of telling us that now we have exploited it too much. #Elephant pic.twitter.com/06x2X8uxP4
— Himansh Kohli (@himanshkohli) June 3, 2020
An act most #inhumane to will fully feed a pineapple full of fire crackers to friendly wild pregnant #Elephant is just unacceptable..strict action should be taken against the culprits sir @vijayanpinarayi @CMOKerala @PrakashJavdekar @moefcc @ntca_india https://t.co/ittFQogkQV
— Randeep Hooda (@RandeepHooda) June 2, 2020
Pregnant elephant in India dies standing in river soothing pain after villagers fed it pineapple with firecrackers https://t.co/d01ebwk2kn pic.twitter.com/rM38yQ5GhF
— Mothership.sg (@MothershipSG) June 3, 2020
They fed a pregnant elephant firecracker embedded pineapples. Elephant died with its baby in its womb.The world is a cruel place. pic.twitter.com/gvSnTOMyJi
— MuslimMeow (@FiqhTabayyun) June 4, 2020
They not only killed the innocent elephant and the baby..They killed Humanity.#RIPHumanity#KeralaElephantMurder pic.twitter.com/4EPD7RTBF1
— Shubhrika chandwani (@Shubhrika35) June 4, 2020
The claim is misleading at this point in the investigation.
Several reports maintain that the officials have stated that the pregnant elephant could have eaten explosives meant to kill boars.
According to an Indian Express report officials maintain that Krishnan had not stated in his post that the elephant had been fed a pineapple stuffed with explosives on purpose. According to them, he had highlighted the dangers of using explosives to ward off wild animals.
‘The injury was already a few days old when we saw the elephant for the first time. So we have not been able to exactly pin-point the place where the injury happened. That’s the limitation we are facing,’ K K Sunil Kumar, divisional forest officer of Mannarkad was quoted as saying.
The Officials also hinted at a possibility that the elephant could have fallen victim to a snare meant for wild boars and pigs.
‘In the forest fringes, there have been reports of crackers and country-bombs being used to trap and kill pigs and other wild animals. It could be that the elephant accidentally ate it,’ an official said.
Stating that since elephants are capable of walking up to 100 km in a day, it is probable that the unfortunate elephant could have moved far away from the spot where it was injured.
Shashi Kumar, a deputy range officer with the division, said these types of incidents of explosive traps for pigs and boars used to be frequently reported earlier, however, ever since the division started registering cases the number of such incidents has dropped.
According to a report by The News Minute, an FIR has been filed against unidentified persons by the Mannarkkad Forest Division in Palakkad regarding the death of the 15-year-old pregnant elephant.
Although the elephant died on May 27, the Forest Department registered an FIR the next day, on May 28.
‘Based on the nature of its wound, we are assuming that it died due to explosives. We are suspecting that the elephant fell prey to the explosive snare used to fend off wild boars,’ KK Sunil Kumar, Mannarkkad Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) was quoted as saying.
The Forest Department has registered the FIR under section 9 (prohibition of hunting any wild animal specified in Schedules I, II, III and IV) and section 51 (offence committed in relation to any animal specified in Schedule I or Part II of Schedule II or meat of any such animal or animal article, trophy or uncured trophy derived from such animal or offence related to hunting in a sanctuary or a National Park) of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
Under Schedule 1 of the …
