Elephant Dies After Being Set on Fire by Tamil Nadu Resort Workers, Horrific Act Caught on Camera

After the incident came to limelight, three men, allegedly responsible for setting the elephant on fire, have been booked.

Updated: January 22, 2021 9:14 PM IST

By India.com News Desk | Edited by Manmath Nayak

Elephant Dies After Being Set on Fire by Tamil Nadu Resort Workers, Horrific Act Caught on Camera

New Delhi: In yet another shocking incident, a 40-year-old elephant has died after being set on fire by a villager in Tamil Nadu. As per updates from forest officials, the badly injured elephant, with bleeding in its ears, was found by some forest department guards in Masinagudi, but it died before it could be taken for treatment to a facility at the Mudumalai forest range.

On conducting an autopsy, officials realised that severe injuries had been caused because of the burns. The elephant died after a villager had thrown a burning piece of tyre to chase away the animal in a local resort. The burning tyre got stuck on the elephant’s ear, forcing it to run away in distress. However, the incident, which took place in Masinagudi in Nilgiris, was captured in a viral video. The video shows men throwing burning objects at the elephant in an attempt to chase the animal away from the locality.

After doing autopsy, forest rangers found the elephant with severe burn injuries on the back and ear. Unfortunately, the animal died while being transported to a camp for medical treatment on January 19.

The forest officials found the elephant in a very weak condition and had been tranqulised before being transported. It had to be caught using the Kumki elephants and was being transported to Theppakadu elephant camp when it died.

Kumki elephants are trained captive elephants used in operations to trap wild elephants, sometimes to rescue or to provide medical treatment to an injured or trapped wild elephant.

After the incident came to limelight, three men, allegedly responsible for setting the elephant on fire, have been booked.

The footage of the incident was released by the department on Friday. The video showed that the tyre in flames being hurled from a building on the animal, injuring its ear. The elephant fled, screaming in pain.

Giving further details, a senior official of the Masinagudi Tiger Reserve said that three people – identified as Prasath, Raymond Dean and Ricky Rayan have been booked in the case. While two people have been arrested, the third is yet to be nabbed.

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