Horrific: Bollywood and TV celebs mourn Kerala elephant who died after being fed cracker-stuffed fruit

The pregnant elephant died after a local allegedly fed her a pineapple stuffed with crackers in Kerala`s Malappuram.

Image courtesy: Facebook/Mohan Krishnan

New Delhi: The death of a pregnant elephant in Kerala after she was fed a fruit stuffed with crackers has shaken the nation. Social media is shocked to see the inhuman treatment meted out to the animal and posts condemning the act have been shared in plenty.

The elephant died after a local allegedly fed her a pineapple stuffed with crackers in Kerala`s Malappuram. The incident took place on May 27 while the elephant was standing in water and forest officials said that she died standing in river Velliyar after suffering an injury in her lower jaw.

Celebrities have taken to Twitter and Instagram to express shock over the incident and are demanding stricter laws against animal cruelty.

Actress Anushka Sharma, who has often voiced her opinion against animal cruelty, shared a new report on the elephant’s death and wrote, "This is why we need harsher LAWS against animal cruelty."

Shraddha Kapoor said she is shattered to hear about it and reiterated that the culprits should be punished in the strictest way. “How? How can something like this happen? Do people not have hearts? My heart has shattered and broken... The perpetrators need to be punished in the STRICTEST way,” she tweeted.

Rajkummar Rao too quoted Shraddha and said it’s “horrific”. Tagging PETA and Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan’s office on Twitter, he added that necessary action should be taken against the people involved in the incident.

“An act most inhumane to willfully feed a pineapple full of firecrackers to a friendly wild pregnant elephant is just unacceptable. Strict action should be taken against the culprits,” Randeep Hooda urged.

Athiya Shetty termed it as ‘barbaric’ and said, “HOW can anyone have the heart to do this? Absolutely disgusting, I hope action is taken.”

Among the others to condemn the incident are actors like Mouni Roy, Sonali Bendre, John Abraham, and TV stars such as Dipika Kakar, Sayantani Ghosh, Rohit Roy, Ravi Dubey among others.

View this post on Instagram

Aajkal humaare yahan har crime ke peeche ek reason de diya jaata hai... Ladki raat ko bahar hhum rahi thi, ya chote kapde pehene the Isiliye rape!!! Kabhi caste, religion, Kabhi Kuch aur Lekin what about this?? Iska kya reason doge? what did the innocent Animal do? Just for fun a criminal can go upto anyextent?!?! Yess Humanity is Dying!!! @cmokerala We urge u to find these criminals And Strict action must be taken!!!  #Repost @tedthestoner with @make_repost  A pregnant elephant was fed cracker stuffed pineapple by unidentified people in Kerala which exploded in her mouth and damaged her jaw. She walked around the village and finally passed away standing in a river. We keep searching for monsters hoping they would be having the devil's horns on their heads. But look around you, the monsters walk beside you. This elephant was going to give birth 18-20 months later. Even after the elephant was injured, she did not crush a single home or hurt a single human being. She just stood in a river because of the excruciating pain and passed away without hurting a single soul. From anybody who throws stones at a stray dog to anybody hurting a living soul, choose one face. A lot of these animals trust human beings because they have been helped by them in the past. This is cruel beyond measure. When you lack empathy and kindness, you do not deserve to be called a human being. To hurt someone is not human. Just stricter laws won't help. We need a decent execution of the law too. Until the guilty are punished in the worst possible way, these wicked monsters will never fear the law. Though it's a difficult task, I hope they are able to find out the one who committed this crime and punish them accordingly. Artwork by Bratuti.

A post shared by Dipika (@ms.dipika) on Jun 3, 2020 at 3:37am PDT

A senior forest officer on Tuesday told news agency PTI, "Her jaw was broken and she was unable to eat after she chewed the pineapple and it exploded in her mouth. It is certain that she was offered the pineapple filled with crackers to eliminate her."

The post-mortem revealed that the pachyderm was pregnant. The tragic death of the elephant came to light after Mohan Krishnan, a forest officer, posted an emotional note on his Facebook page, narrating the death of the elephant in the waters of the Velliyar River.