Look at this animal. So majestic.
And so good with massages.
A creature so smart, they have a whole Wikipedia article that can be summarised as “researchers can’t believe Elephants are so smart and similar to humans”.
As an endangered animal that’s friendly to humans, you can bet that humans like this animal too.
But a series of unfortunate events have left people, especially those in India, outraged.
Pregnant Elephant In Kerala Ate Pineapple Stuffed With Firecrackers
According to wildlife officials, a wild elephant went into a village near Silent Valley National Park in south Kerala when it ate a fruit (believed to be pineapple) that exploded.
(If you look carefully at the picture, you can see parts of her face that are clearly red.)
Reportedly, the elephant had stood in the river, using its water to clean the wound before she died.
The details of the incident are still under investigation.
“We only know that the injury (to the elephant) was caused by some explosive substance,” forestry official Sunil Kumar said.
Another similar incident took place last month. A female elephant was also found with serious mouth injuries in a nearby district and died from its injuries.
Locals appeared to have placed fruits spiked with firecrackers to discourage animals like wild boars from damaging crops.
Massive Outrage, Humane Society International Offered Reward For Information
A Facebook post by a forestry official, Mohan Krishnan, had gathered more than 11K reactions and 8.7K shares as of writing.
In his post, Mohan wrote, “She didn’t harm a single human being even when she ran in searing pain in the streets of the village.”
“She didn’t crush a single home. This is why I said, she is full of goodness.”
“Sorry sister.”
“With her mouth and tongue destroyed in the explosion, she paced around hungry without being able to eat. She must have been more worried about the health of the child inside her than about her own hunger.”
The incident was also shared on various pages like Metrosaga India and The Logical Indian, leading to outrage and a manhunt for the alleged perpetrator.
Like I said people are monsters not these poor animals.. goes to prove that literacy has nothing to do with being humane or empathetic or even have the slightest sense of having common sense..!! Disgusted.. I hope corona gets these monsters and they die.!! pic.twitter.com/iZgnd0UqcO
— 𝑽𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒙𝒎𝒊 𝑺𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒌𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒓 (@varusarath) June 3, 2020
It got so much attention that even “fan art” was drawn.
The Humane Society International, India has even offered a reward of up to Rs 50,000 (~S$927) for information about the accused and their arrest and conviction.
“Conflict with wild animals, including wild boars, is not new and needs systemic changes in wildlife management that can address this meaningfully. However, crop loss caused by wild animals in conflict is no justification for community members taking the law into their hands and seeking to maim or kill animals in question,” Sumanth Bindumadhav, the campaign manager for wildlife at HSI India said.
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But Outrage Seems To Be Fuelled By Misleading Titles
Many seemed to have missed the point that the elephant wasn’t fed the fruit deliberately, which seems to be what at least half the outrage was about.
As I previously said, the fruit bombs were meant to be a deterrent to wild animals. These act like pressure-activated landmines and effective in preventing damage to crops.
Just looking to the WWF website reveals that habitat loss had led elephants to seek alternative food sources in farms, settlements and plantations. Small farmers often lose their entire livelihood overnight from an elephant raid.
The point I’m trying to make here is that farmers in India are usually very poor and losing a few crops can mean starvation.
This kind of situation has led to a “war” between humans and elephants. According to government data, some 2,361 people were killed in attacks by elephants between 2014 and 2019. In the same period, about 510 elephants died, 333 from electrocution and another 100 from poaching and poisoning.
In other words, both the farmers and elephants are victims of a larger systemic problem. It’s a literal life or death situation for both the human farmers and elephant.
So how the heck did the outrage become so misguided? You can thank misleading titles for that.
For instance, Metrosaga India seems to imply that humans fed the fruit deliberately.
As did The Logical Indian.
Various news videos have also chosen to use the words “killed” which also implies a more deliberate action.
And it certainly didn’t help when people headline read without looking more into the matter and share it:
Pregnant elephant was fed a pineapple stuffed w/firecrackers &died horribly: https://t.co/K6I1usI4x9. Authorities are investigating&I didn't tweet earlier, thinking it'd be superfluous. But Kerala must bring these criminals to book to preserve its reputation for protecting nature
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) June 3, 2020
How much is there to blame on each level? We’re not really sure.
In fact, our original headline was “People In India Fed Pregnant Elephant with Fruits Filled With Firecrackers & It Died Soon After” before additional research was done on the topic.
But I’d sure like people to chill and wait for more information before initiating the manhunt. There’s just not enough reliable information on the incident yet.
Remember, the details of the incident are still under investigation.
Over in TikTok, there’s a drama involving property agents that’s caused by us. Here’s what happened:
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