A pregnant elephant died in Kerala after she ate pineapple with firecrackers in it. After chewing on it, the crackers exploded and broke her jaw.
When the firecrackers exploded, she fled into the forest in a lake, trying to soothe her mouth officials think. Unable to eat and drink, she died of starvation on May 27th.
Forest officer Mohan Krishnan shared pictures on Saturday of the very skinny elephant in the water. Officials believe she was attacked at the beginning of May and wasn’t able to eat anymore because of her injuries.
Forest officers discovered the extremely emaciated elephant on May 25th and try to help her out of the water. She didn’t accept help and stayed in the water where she died two days later.
Her body was taken out of the water with the help of two captive elephants. The veterinarian that examined her, told the forest officials she was pregnant. She was cremated in the forest.
Krishnan wrote an emotional story on Facebook about the cruelty done to this beautiful innocent animal: “She was good. She didn’t even hurt a human being in the village searching for food. Not even when she ran away in pain she hurt a human being.” He ended with: “Sorry…sis…sorry.”
The story has caused online outrage in India. People are demanding strong actions against the ones responsible. No one has been arrested yet.
The Animal Reader talked to Meet Ashar from PETA India about the bigger problem. Fruit with firecrackers is being used to kill wild boars and other animals, which he emphasizes is equally as bad. No animal should be killed in that way, he says.
The Animal Reader is an animal news organization. We need your help to create important news stories about animals. Read more about us here and, if you can, become a sponsor here.
