Elephants Are Not To Be Messed With, This Video Is Proof

Animals are invading human settlements as wildlife habitats decline as a result of activities such as deforestation and urban development. Social media is full of videos showing animals visiting farms and other areas in quest of food, increasing man-elephant conflict. Now, a new video is making the rounds on the internet, in which a hungry wild elephant residing in the Gundlupet forest on the Kerala-Karnataka border creates a commotion after wandering into human territory and raiding a foodgrain warehouse.

The video, shared by user Naresh Nambisan on X (Formerly Twitter), shows the elephant marching ferociously towards the godown in front of panicked witnesses. Further in the video, the animal can be seen breaking open a shutter and dragging out a sack (presumably rice) with its trunk while bystanders try to drive the elephant away. The jumbo then pulls the sack open with its leg and eats the grain.

“The Elephant knows that if there is no food in the forest, it has to come to the Food Corporation Of India godown to get food,” Nambisan captioned his post on X while sharing the video.

Watch the video here:

The video was posted on April 2 and within a few hours; it has collected more than 186,000 views. “What a painful scenario. The administration should take steps for this food scarcity situation,” a user wrote. “This elephant was a polite fellow. Things could have gone very wrong with the throwing things and crowding around him. Should have just called the Forest Department to safely take it away,” another said. A user commented, “But unlike humans, it has the decency to only take 1 for his needs.” A user jokingly said “He came to claim his free ration.” Another stated, “People must have allowed him to eat instead of mocking.”

Another video went viral a few days ago, in which an IFS officer described how two men were prodding a hungry elephant with a stick, endangering their lives.

Kaushik Barua, a user on X, originally posted the video in 2022. Many social media users turned to the comments area to express their outrage at the man’s actions, while others called for heavy punishment for such a terrible act.