Wild Elephant Killed In TN After Resort Staff Threw Burning Tyre At It. What Is Wrong With Us?

It seems like there is no limit humans will stoop to when it comes to ill-treating other species around them.

Last year, the country was left shocked by the death of a pregnant elephant in Kerala after it bit off a booby-trapped fruit that was meant for wild boars.

While the elephant was the unintentional casualty, in that case, another disturbing incident has now surfaced, where a jumbo died after a burning tyre was hurled at it.

The shocking incident was reported from Masinagudi in Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu.

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Old incident but came to light only after video surfaced

According to the Forest Officials, the incident happened on January 8, but it came to light only after the video of the barbaric act surfed.

The elephant had entered a homestay in the buffer zone of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve and damaged a luxury car that was parked there.

The staff of the private resort threw a burning tyre, filled with kerosene on it.

The video showed the elephant running in panic as the burning tyer got stuck on its head.

Barbaric act in Nilgiris, Tamilnadu. An elephant was attacked with a burning tyre, in a private resort, killing the animal. Hope the guilty are punished for this inhumane act of violence. #WA #EveryLifeMatters #SaveWildlife pic.twitter.com/iLJn2yxgdq

¡ª Praveen Angusamy, IFS ? (@PraveenIFShere) January 22, 2021

According to the Forest Officials, the elephant which died of burn injuries was already being treated by them for a back injury.

"A 50-year-old wild jumbo was noticed with injuries on its back in November and for the past two months we were trying to give treatment. In December, we captured the injured jumbo seen with pus on the injured area and later we provided treatment to that elephant and let it into the forest area."

"The elephant again started moving to the residential area but did not cause any damage to anyone. In the first week of January 2020, the injured jumbo moved to the residential area and this was noted by the residents and they started to chase the elephant. Later, they torched a tyre and threw it on the injured jumbo. The elephant ran away with fire injury and later died," a Forest Official said.

Shocking torture of an elephant which had strayed out of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve located in the Western Ghats' Nilgiri hills in Tamil Nadu. The elephant had strayed into a resort area. The resort owner should be booked as per the Wildlife act.@Jairam_Ramesh @PrakashJavdekar pic.twitter.com/DYl8R3faLJ

¡ª Viju B (@floodandfury) January 22, 2021

After the video went viral causing outrage, two people, identified as Prasad and Raymond were arrested on Friday evening under the Wildlife Protection Act section (9) (seven years imprisonment) and another person Ricky involved in this case is missing.

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Human-elephant conflicts have been on the rise in the area for some time, especially in the buffer zones of the Nilgiris Elephant Corridor which was notified in 2010.

A number of illegal resorts and homestays have come up in the area in recent years, blocking the traditional paths of jumbo herds.

BCCL

In January 2020, the Supreme Court had upheld the notification and the bench comprising Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justices SA Nazeer and Sanjiv Khanna also ordered the setting up of a committee headed by a retired judge and comprising experts to consider the issue of removal of structures as well as other commercial establishments, including resorts, around elephant corridors in Nilgiris.

The case was filed by several resort owners including actor Mithun Chakraborty against the government order, notifying the Nilgiris Elephant Corridor and the subsequent closure of 27 commercial establishments including hotels and resorts in the eco-sensitive elephant corridor.