New Delhi: In a moving instance, a forest official was seen crying bitterly holding the dead elephant’s trunk who was killed in a shocking case of human cruelty. ALSO READ | Barbaric! Elephant Dies After Tamil Nadu Resort Workers Throw Burning Tyre At It, 3 Booked
In Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiris, a 40-year-old elephant died after some individuals threw a burning tyre at it in an attempt to scare it away but the act turned not just cruel but also fatal for the hapless animal.
The incident came to light as a video shot by an onlooker went viral on social media.
In a new video, a forest official (possibly the elephant's caretaker) can be seen crying incessantly as he looks at its mortal remains while holding its trunk with care. "Get up SI, you are fine," he is quoted as saying.
Previously, forest officials had revealed that the badly injured elephant who was bleeding in its ears was found by some forest department guards in Masinagudi. But it died before it could be taken for treatment to a facility at the Mudumalai forest range. On conducting an autopsy, officials realised that severe injuries had been caused because of the burns.
Three men, allegedly responsible for setting the elephant on fire, have been booked.
While the death of the elephant exposes yet another ugly face of humans’ insensitivity towards their fellow-creatures, the forest officer’s anguish shows the polar opposite end where people do share a deep affection and empathy for animals.
The social media outrage, in this case, has also helped to restore some faith and hope in humanity.