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Pregnant Elephant Dies After Eating Pineapple Stuffed With Firecrackers

Pregnant Elephant Dies After Eating Pineapple Stuffed With Firecrackers

More than half a million people have signed a petition calling for justice to be served to whoever did this.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

A pregnant elephant has died after eating a pineapple filled with firecrackers.

Forest officials said the 15-year-old animal wandered into a village in Kerala's Silent Valley Forest in southern India looking for food when it ate the pineapple and suffered serious injuries.

A spokesperson for Kerala Forest Department told Sky News that farmers sometimes put firecrackers in food at the edge of their fields to protect their crops from wild boars. The elephant is likely to have accidentally eaten one of these traps.

Sadly, she didn't die instantly and the explosion damaged her jaw, leaving her unable to eat, according to the New Zealand Herald.

Wildlife official Mohan Krishnan said in a heart-breaking post on social media that the mum-to-be was later found dying in a nearby river.

He wrote: "She trusted everyone. When the pineapple she ate exploded, she must have been shocked not thinking about herself, but about the child she was going to give birth to in 18 to 20 months.

"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.

"When we saw her she was standing in the river, with her head dipped in the water. She had a sixth sense that she was going to die."

Two captive elephants were brought in to try and get the pregnant elephant out of the water and back to safety for treatment, however she wouldn't move. Eventually, she died and her body was taken back into the forest to be cremated.

It's unclear who was responsible for stuffing the pineapple with explosives, however an investigation has been launched.

Mohan Krishnan/Facebook

A Kerala Forest Department spokesperson told Sky News: "It seems this elephant was very unfortunate and unlucky. In my 20 years of service I have heard of three such cases in the past with elephants. It is very sad and we are all very sad about it."

The official Kerala Forest Department Twitter page wrote: "Article 51-A (g) of the Indian Constitution says that it shall be duty of every citizen of India to have compassion for living creatures.

"The pregnant elephant... was killed in human-wildlife conflict. Action has already been initiated. But where lies our duty?"

A Change.org petition has been started, calling for justice for the elephant. It's already reached more than 750,000 signatures at the time of writing.

Featured Image Credit: Mohan Krishnan/Facebook

Topics: News, Animals