In India, a pregnant elephant in search of food, wandered into a Malappuram village. There she was met by locals that fed her a pineapple filled with firecrackers.
News and social media is blowing up across Asia about this tragedy. The truly sad story was originally shared by Mohan Krishan, a Section Forest Officer in Nilambur
“She came out to the village in search of food. She did not know about the selfish human beings that she was about to witness. She must have thought they would spare her as she was carrying two lives. She believed everyone. When the pineapple that she ate burst, she must have been in shock not thinking about herself, but the child she was about to give birth to in 18 or 20 months,” the forest officer wrote in his post.
Using firecrackers according to the India Times is a common tactic to drive away wild boars.
Due to the serious injury to her mouth, the elephant roamed hungry and unable to eat anything. Even in deep pain, the gentle mother-to-be did not cause any damage to the village or harm anyone.
To slow her pain, she found refuge in the Velliyar river.
A Forest officer, part of the rescue team, Krishnan said, “When I saw her, she was standing in the river, with her mouth and trunk submerged in water. She must have stood in the water to avoid any insects feeding on her wounds.”
Officials called in two elephants to help pull the (then unknown to them) pregnant elephant to shore but before the rescue could be concluded, she died standing in the water on May 27.
“Everyone was shocked, the captive elephants were very quick to realize what had happened, they shed tears. I felt the river start to boil with those tears, a river’s protest against the selfish mankind,” Krishnan wrote his Facebook post.
Only after a post mortem, Officials realised she was pregnant.
“The doctor who conducted the postmortem said as he wept that she wasn’t alone. Though the mask helped him hide the expression, I understood his sorrow,” Krishnan noted.
Social media is rife with sorrow and outrage across india with photos being shared and demands for the perpetrators to be sent to jail.
