Kerala pregnant elephant's death: Maximum punishment that culprits can get
A pregnant elephant in
Kerala died recently after eating a pineapple containing firecracker, which
exploded in her mouth. There was an outrage on social media following an
emotional apology post by forest officer Mohan Krishnan detailing how the
animal died. A criminal investigation into suspected cruelty towards animals
has since been initiated.
Forestry
officials said the incident happened on May 23 in the Palakkad district of
Kerala, near a farmland where locals sometimes scattered fruit spiked with
firecrackers to discourage animals from damaging crops. "We only know that
the injury (to the elephant) was caused by some explosive substance," said
forest official Sunil Kumar. The perpetrators, he said, could face animal
cruelty charges which attract fines or even a jail term.
Here's what happened
The
15-year-old wild elephant, which was two months pregnant, had wandered out of
the local Silent Valley National Park in search of food when it consumed the
firecracker-spiked fruit.
They
later found the elephant trying to cool herself in a
stream but as locals tried to heave it out of the water to take it to a
treatment centre, the animal collapsed and died. Postmortem report revealed
that the elephant died from drowning.
"Sorry
sister," Mohan Krishnan, who witnessed the elephant's death, wrote in a
Facebook post. "With her mouth and tongue destroyed in the explosion, she
paced around hungry without being able to eat. She must have been more worried
about the health of the child inside her than about her own hunger."
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