INDIA: Yet another painful death of an elephant in south India, this time from Tamil Nadu has been reported recently. The recent case of animal cruelty has come to light in Masinagudi, Nilgiris after a shocking video went viral on the internet showing the brutal act by humans.
Some people in a private resort, probably a Homestay, apparently threw a lit, burnt cloth on a 40-year-old elephant in an attempt to chase the animal away from the locality. Some reports claim that a burning tire was thrown at the 40 years old male elephant who sustained serious burn injuries to its ears. The elephant had wandered into Masinagudi in the Nilgiris hunting for food. The incident happened during the first week of January 2021 but the news first came to light recently only after the video went viral.
According to reports, the male elephant was later found in a very serious condition with ear injuries. It died because of the burns while the forest officials were transporting it to a different facility for treatment. The reports also mentioned that the accused were employees in a resort and they were running a homestay in the area.
The autopsy report revealed that the elephant had sustained deep wounds on its back and a gash on its left ear and mentioned that the death could have come from unbearable pain.
Giving further details, a senior official of the Masinagudi Tiger Reserve said that three people have been booked in the case. While two people have been arrested under section 9 of the Wildlife Protection Act, the third is yet to be nabbed. Orders have been passed to seal the resort building in Mavanallah where the elephant was injured.
Human cruelty
It is absolutely appalling to see humanity has stooped to new lows. Animals have equal rights on the earth and share the planet with us. But there have been shocking cases that reveal that people don’t even consider them to be living beings. Last year, a pregnant elephant was fed pineapple filled with crackers in Kerala resulting in the death of the mother and the baby. A lot of enraged hue and cry followed, but no lessons have been learned.
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In the current case too, even though the questions are unanswered as to where the animal came from and what was it doing at the resort premises, what has emerged is that this was not an isolated incident. The forest officer serving in the area told news agencies that there are plenty of such incidents of animal brutality. Human-animal conflict is quite frequent in the region as it is surrounded by forests. As per news reports, a similar incident took place over a month back when a female elephant was electrocuted as she walked into a paddy field. The farmer supposedly was keeping live wires dipped in his fields during the nights to scare away wild animals from damaging the crop. The only difference was that this time it was captured on camera and widely circulated on social media.
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