India arrests man over shocking death of elephant
07 June, 2020
Indian police have arrested a plantation worker and so are hunting two others after a pregnant elephant died after eating fruit laced with explosives, officials said Saturday (Jun 6), in a case that shocked the country.
The elephant died in agony last week in the southern state of Kerala, the latest casualty of an evergrowing conflict in South Asia between nature and humans as a lot more forest is lost to urban expansion.
Footage of the pet standing in a river all night using its badly injured mouth and trunk in the water since it slowly weakened went viral, triggering horror online.
P Wilson was arrested on Friday after he allegedly positioned fruits filled up with explosives to keep creatures - mainly wild boar - from his rubber plantation.
"The person has admitted that they used the explosive-filled coconuts to focus on the wildlife," Surendra Kumar, Kerala's chief wildlife warden, told AFP.
Two of his associates were still most importantly, the officer said.
Kumar said the men made several "coconut bombs" in the next week of May, and left them nearby the plantation boundary.
Officials said it was unclear when precisely the 15-year-old elephant consumed the rigged fruit nonetheless it was found injured on May 25, two days before it died.
Forest officials said the explosion caused extreme harm to its mouth, leaving the creature unable to drink or eat for days.
Villagers across India often use explosive or firecracker-filled fruits - which become pressure-activated landmines - as bait to focus on wildlife that threaten crops and homes.
An identical incident was reported last month in a close by Kerala district, when a female pachyderm was found with serious mouth injuries.
If convicted, the men could confront seven years in jail for killing an elephant, a protected animal under Indian wildlife laws.
LORD GANESH
The most recent incident caused widespread outrage on social media, including from several sports and Bollywood celebrities, who condemned the "inhuman act" and needed harsh action against the perpetrators.
Nonetheless it stirred another controversy after several Hindu right-wing figures on social media turned the death right into a hate campaign against Muslims, falsely claiming that the city were behind the incident.
Many right-wing Hindu figures alleged online the creature was especially targeted for the reason that animal is an embodiment of Lord Ganesh, the elephant-headed Hindu deity.
Members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party, including environment minister Prakash Javadekar and parliamentarian Maneka Gandhi, also claimed the event happened in Malappuram, a Muslim-majority district.
The incident occurred in Palakkad district, some 80km away.
India houses practically 30,000 elephants, equal to 60 % of the world's wild Asian pachyderms.
But urban expansion has put the animals incompatible with humans.
About 2,360 persons were killed in elephant attacks between 2014 and 2019, according to Indian government data.
In the same period about 510 elephants died, including 333 from electrocution and roughly 100 from poaching and poisoning, the figures stated.
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