We Hope Internet’s Fury Over The Killing Of Pregnant Elephant Doesn’t Die Out Anytime Soon

Warning: Graphic content!

While the human race struggles with the pandemic and pledges to be ‘#InThisTogether’, the same human race committed a crime that is beyond anyone’s imagination. Recently in Kerala, an elephant was found to have died after being fed a pineapple filled with firecrackers. In the process of chewing, the firecrackers exploded in her mouth severely damaging her jaw, killing her and the baby she was going to give birth to in 20 months. Even after the pregnant elephant was hurt, she simply walked through the village and passed away in a river failing to fight the excruciating pain.

As soon as the postmortem report came out confirming the cause of death, social media was flooded with outrage over the heinous act. Everyone from commoners to celebrities condemned the action demanding strict punishment to the culprit(s) for the murder of the 15-year-old wild elephant.

This artwork by Instagram user Bratati Maity went viral as people started reposting this on social media with heart-wrenching captions. Among these were Anushka Sharma, Shraddha Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandez, and Varun Dhawan to name a few.

Earlier today, Prakash Javadekar, Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, tweeted that the case will be investigated properly and the culprit(s) behind it will be punished. He also assured that besides the Kerala Forest Department, which is on a “manhunt” for those responsible, the central government is also taking serious note of the inhuman act of animal cruelty.

A few hours ago, Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, took to Twitter to assure that justice will prevail. In his 5-part tweets, he further said, “We will also try to address the causes behind the increased incidences of Human-wildlife conflict. Climate change could be adversely affecting both the local communities & animals.” He went on to add that, “we are saddened by the fact some have used this tragedy to unleash a hate campaign. Lies built upon inaccurate descriptions and half-truths were employed to obliterate the truth. Some even tried to import bigotry into the narrative. Wrong priorities.” He concluded by saying how Kerala is a society that respects the outrage against injustice.

Samuel Pachuau, Wildlife Warden of the Silent Valley National Park (where the elephant lived) said, “We are quite certain to find the perpetrators of this crime, which is in no way acceptable at all. It was on the 23rd of last month we came to know about this incident when the elephant was spotted near a water source outside the National park. Two sets of teams are probing this incident.” She was spotted standing in Velliyar River which is a part of the buffer zone of the national park.

“We summoned a veterinarian and later on the 25th an elephant expert David Abraham came and examined and explained to us the bad situation,” added Pachuau. After standing in water for days, the elephant took her last breath on May 27 succumbing to her injuries.

Twitter

Twitter

Explaining the cause of her death, Abraham told IANS, “We informed the Forest officials that the prognosis was bad and two days later the elephant died in a sitting posture in the water. The next day, when we conducted the post-mortem we found a nearly two-month-old foetus. From the uterus, we could make out it was the first pregnancy of the elephant.”

“Only when we conducted the autopsy, we could see that the upper and lower jaw, teeth and tongue of the elephant was badly damaged. The cause of death is due to the aspiration of the lungs as it was filled with water. It was a sad day for many of us,” Abraham told the news agency. Reports from the initial investigation suggest that the elephant could have accidentally eaten the fruit that was laid as a trap for wild boars.

Here’s how the Internet came together to condemn the incident.

Akshay Kumar called it “inhumane and unacceptable”

Athiya Shetty went on to talk about her “favourite animal” and how we pray to them, asking for animal cruelty laws

Randeep Hooda, actor & UN Environment Programme Ambassador, asked for strict actions too

Virat Kohli, too, was appalled

Ratan Tata called it no different from a human’s murder

Shraddha Kapoor had a heartbreaking reaction to the news

Swara Bhasker, too, asked for swift punishment to the “monsters”

Bengali Filmmaker Srijit Mukherji’s message was short but hard-hitting

Anushka Sharma’s Instagram Stories flooded with karmic revenge on humankind

Instagram

Alia Bhatt also shared an artwork among other things on IG Stories

Instagram

In fact, according to recent reports, another elephant’s death in the state under similar circumstances has surfaced. A young female elephant is said to have died in April in the Pathanapuram forests in Kollam district. The postmortem reports of her also show jaw fractures that “could have been through something it consumed.” However, this is not confirmed yet. Forest officials say a chemical analysis report is awaited. “We suspect it to be crackers,” a senior forest official told NDTV.

Whenever something this Earth-shattering happens in India, the momentum dies down as soon as it erupts. We hope this time around, that doesn’t happen and the voiceless get strict laws to be their voice in the face of brutal humanity. Let’s not let the movement die out and take action to bring justice to the elephant and many more like her.

Featured Image: Twitter