The incident that shook the animal lovers happened in the southern state of Kerala in India. It came to light on 30 May when a forest officer in the Kerala Forest Department Mohan Krishnan posted about it on Facebook.
Highlights:
- A pregnant wild elephant suffered a painful death as a result of consuming a fruit laced with explosives.
- Farmers are known to keep pineapples and other fruits stuffed with firecrackers to kill wild boars.
- A high-level team is probing the incident.
Krishnan’s post went viral, and animal activists demanded a probe into the matter.
Kerala Forest Department said on Twitter that the pregnant elephant was killed in human-wildlife conflict.
In a statement, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said the “Environment Ministry has taken a serious note of the death of the elephant and has sought a complete report on the incident.
“Stern action will be taken against the culprit(s),” said the minister.
However, it is not clear if the act of feeding pineapple-laced explosive to the elephant was intentional or not as the officials have not ruled out a possibility of an accident.
“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’s illegal too, so we’re not belittling it. But it could be a possibility that the elephant accidentally ate it,” KK Sunil Kumar, divisional forest officer, Mannarkkad told the Indian Express.
On the other hand state’s Chief Wildlife Warden told NDTV that it was an “intentional act to kill the elephant”.
“The department is of the view that this is an intentional act to kill the elephant. We have registered the case against unknown offenders, and very soon you will hear of the arrests”, Mr Kumar told NDTV.
The incident has shocked animal activists and others alike.
Indian industrialist Ratan Tata expressed his anger on twitter.
“Such criminal acts against innocent animals are no different than acts of meditated murder against other humans,” Mr Tata tweeted.
Sydney-based animal-activist Madhusmita Hazarika says the killing of the pregnant elephant is extremely sad.
“At a larger level, it is a reflection the worsening man-animal conflict, which has arisen from loss of habitat of wildlife and overpopulation of humans. People today are fighting over scarce resources - amongst themselves and with wildlife - and unfortunately, it seems everything is justified in this struggle.
“That elephant was one of many casualties of this struggle. Having said that, the perpetrators of this heinous crime must be brought to justice. And the government must take action to reduce man-animal conflict, so such incidents do not occur again in the future,” Ms Hazarika said.
