Elephant dies of burn injuries; two arrested

CHENNAI: A horrific video emerged on Friday of two men throwing a flaming cloth onto an elephant in Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiris district and the animal trumpeting and running away in pain. The 40-year-old elephant, who was already sick, died on January 19 due to the injuries it suffered in the attack earlier this month.

The two men, identified as Prasath, 36, and Raymond, 28, were arrested for animal cruelty. Officials also sealed a homestay that the men were running; the elephant had intruded into the facility and the men tried to scare it away. “This is heartbreaking and cruel. The action we take against them should serve as a deterrent,” said Nilgiris district collector J Innocent

Divya. “They have been booked for offences under the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972.”

Forest officials had been following the elephant since November. “It (the elephant) had an injury on its back and it was roaming around in human habitation without going to the forest,” said LCS Srikanth, deputy director of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in Masinagudi. The department tranquilized the pachyderm in December. “But it was still weak and moving around very slowly,” said Srikanth. “This video {of the attack} is from January 3rd midnight.”

Forest officials noticed serious injuries to its ear in January. On the morning of January 19, they tranquilized the elephant again to take it for treatment to a nearby camp. “It suddenly died when we were nearing the camp,” Srikanth said.