Police Arrest One of the Men Who Fed the Pregnant Elephant a Firecracker-Stuffed Pineapple

In Thiruvananthapuram, the first arrest has just been made for the killing of the now-famous pregnant elephant in Kerala using a firecracker-laden pineapple, according to the state's Forest Minister. It is the first of hopefully many arrests in a case that sparked widespread outrage in many countries when it was shared on social media.

One day after Pinarayi Vijayan, the Chief Minister, disclosed that they had identified three of the suspects, and they made the first arrest.

G. Siva Vikram, police chief of the Palakkad district, said that the man they arrested earns a living tapping rubber trees. He also added that they are currently searching for the other remaining suspects.

Surendra Kumar, Chief Wildlife Warden, said that the arrested man was around forty years of age and allegedly handles firecrackers and explosives. His firecracker was the one that killed the animal. The man also assisted others in the widely despised act.

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It was last month when the animal, a pregnant wild elephant, entered a village located near the Palakkad district's Silent Valley National Park situated in Mannarkkad. Reports said that it supposedly tried to consume food allegedly offered to it by the locals, which had been stuffed with firecrackers.

The explosive went off in the animal's mouth, after which it walked around the village. Surprisingly, it did not harm anyone or destroy anything. When the firecracker exploded, it broke the elephant's jaw, so it wasn't able to eat anything as it walked for days in pain and agony before it went to a river. On May 27, while standing in the river and still in pain, it died.

It is a common practice among the villagers of this region to put firecrackers and explosives and stuff them inside food items, such as animal fat and fruit. The rationale for this practice is to ward off wildlife pests from their agricultural fields, such as boars. It is a horrific practice that has earned widespread condemnation.

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Social media has been abuzz with the news. Photos were shared, which depicted the poor animal standing in the waters of the river, her trunk and mouth immersed in the water as if trying to get relief from the surely excruciating pain and suffering it was experiencing.

The pregnant elephant is thought to have endured the injury for 20 days, and then finally giving in and dying from its injury, pain, and extreme hunger. The officials surmised that the animal starved because of the poor health condition of its body.

Pinarayi Vijayan promised in several tweets that "justice will prevail". This was his response to the massive tide of grief and anger that swarmed the internet after internet users saw the photo of the poor elephant, showing it dead in the river.  The photo emerged from the post of a forest officer just this week.

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Vijayan said that the investigation by the government would also attempt to address the increasing occurrences of human and wildlife encounters and conflict. He said in a tweet that climate change might be negatively affecting wildlife species as well as local communities.

Such events cause wildlife to wander into human habitats, which often end badly, usually for the poor animals. This could have been the reason why the pregnant animal walked into the village, as it was hungry and was looking for food.

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