The 15-year-old female wild elephant died after consuming a pineapple filled with firecrackers which exploded in her mouth. The elephant was spotted near a river where she was standing with her trunk and mouth inside the water possibly to assuage the pain.
The inhumane act came to light after the section forest officer Mohan Krishnan, part of the Rapid Response Team in northern Kerala's Malappuram district, went to rescue the pregnant elephant and realized how severely she suffered. Officer Mohan decided to take this incident on social media as he wanted everybody to know how the harmless animal trusted us, the humans when she was hungry.
“She trusted everyone. When the pineapple she ate exploded, she must have been shocked to not think about herself, but about the child, she was going to give birth to in 18 to 20 months.” Mohan Krishnan, Forest Officer. Also Read: Let's Treat Our Animals With Love, Bring An End To These Cowardly Acts: Kohli "Appalled" Over Pregnant Elephant's Gruesome Death
Javadekar tweeted that the ‘central government has taken a very serious note of the killing of an elephant’ and that ‘no stone will be left unturned to nab the culprit(s)’. He also said that ‘this is not an Indian culture to feed firecrackers and kill.’
According to reports, the Kerala Forest Department has launched a 'manhunt' for those responsible for this inhumane activity. In an IANS report, Samuel Pachuau, the Wildlife Warden of the Silent Valley National Park 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."