Twitter mourns death of elephant in Kerala

The heartbreaking death of a pregnant elephant in Kerala has led to huge outrage on Twitter. The elephant died after eating a pineapple stuffed with crackers. This was allegedly placed by some locals.

The wild elephant had left the forests of Silent Valley in Palakkad district and wandered into a nearby village in search of food where she ate the pineapple. The fruit exploded in her mouth and left her in pain as she walked around the village for days, unable to eat anything because of her injuries. She eventually died standing in a river.

The incident has sent shock waves through social media. Thousands of people have called for strong action against those responsible. Many people shared sketches as a way to apologise for this act of animal cruelty.

“Literacy rate doesn’t reflect education,” wrote one Twitter user. “Somewhere in God’s own country, not Kerala…” another wrote while sharing a heartbreaking sketch that shows a baby elephant playing with its mother.

Actor Randeep Hooda was among those who tweeted saying, “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”.

BJP leader Maneka Gandhi has called it murder.

Officials suspect that the elephant ate the pineapple either in the end of April or the beginning of May. “We don’t know when the incident happened. But because of the starvation and shrinking of the elephant, we suspect that it would have happened around 20 days ago,” said a forest official.

Forest officials got to know about the elephant just two days before she died. They brought two captive elephants to lead her out of the river where she stood with her mouth and trunk in water, perhaps for some relief from the pain. After unsuccessful attempts to lead her out, the elephant died.

Police have now launched an investigation into the case and filed an FIR against unknown persons. No arrests have been made so far.

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