The heat of the afternoon sun was unbearable. Ammu didn’t know how long she had been walking for. Food was scarce and she was extremely hungry. Ammu hadn’t eaten in days. Hunger and desperation were clawing her from inside out. She was alone, separated from her family, and lost. The thick forest cover was slowly beginning to thin out. The rays of the scorching sun that penetrated through the canopy were slowly growing in intensity. But food remained elusive. She was starving and nearly dying from thirst. But she never gave up. She was determined to find something to eat. On and on, she walked. She walked till she could not walk any further. “This is it.” She thought to herself. “I’m going to die of hunger.” That’s when the wind carried the sweet-smelling air up to her. Food! Something sweet and fruity! All was not lost after all. A tiny ray of light flickered within her. Her keen nose guided her to the source of the smell. Relief and joy flooded her heart in equal measure. It was a field full of fruits and there in the clearing lay a ripe, golden pineapple! It seemed like a human dwelling and the elders had warned her to stay away from humans. They had always maintained that humans were not trustworthy. The humans had trapped her father and snatched him away from his family forever. So the elders claimed that humans were greedy, selfish, and cold-hearted. But Ammu was beginning to see the humans in a new light! They had left some food for her. Humans couldn’t be so bad after all. Her elders must have been very mistaken. Humans had a heart of gold. Excited and overjoyed, she munched on the tasty pineapple. That was when something went horribly wrong.
One moment she was gobbling up the pineapple and the next moment, a long, resonant bang blasted her ears and tore through her mouth. Excruciating pain was all she could feel – a pain so severe that it blinded her. Blood was gushing from her burnt mouth and lower jaw which was also broken from the impact. She nearly rolled over from the pain and the ringing in her ears. With an equally painful blow to her tender heart, she realized that her elders were spot on when it came to humans. If only she had taken their warnings seriously.
Ammu fled from the scene. Her injuries had taken a toll on her. Liquid food was all she could eat. Her mouth was nearly ripped apart and very badly burnt. She roamed about for over 20 days, in excruciating pain. The humans had broken her trust, and yet she never made a move to harm them. Starved and exhausted, she finally resorted to wandering into a nearby river. That was when some of the humans tried to help her. But she had had enough to do with humans, and she refused all help. It wasn’t that long before she was put out of her misery. Standing there, in the middle of the river, Ammu drew her last breath.
The humans who wanted to help her were heart-broken. They cursed the ones who had put a pineapple laden with explosives in the middle of their field to trap wild boars. After the post-mortem, the news took an even more tragic turn. “Poor elephant! She wasn’t alone. There was a little one growing inside her”, the heart-broken vet sighed. Ammu was going to be a mother. Her poor little baby elephant would never see the light of the day. Both Ammu and her unborn baby were unfortunate victims.
She had made one mistake: she trusted humans. And she paid for it with her life, and that of her unborn child.
Author’s Note:
Truth is stranger than fiction. This story is based on a real-life incident. I’m appalled and ashamed to know that such an inhuman incident took place in my home state. The poor elephant had ingested a pineapple filled with explosives. No, they did not feed it to her. She and her unborn baby were accidental victims. But that fact did nothing to reduce her suffering. The “explosive” pineapples are apparently used by the locals as a regular trap against wild boars who attack their crops. It’s a really barbaric way to deal with animals. After all, they are hungry too. And humans are the ones who encroach into their habitats and convert it into farmlands.
In this case, the elephant and her unborn baby eventually succumbed to injuries. She was standing in the middle of the river. Even though the actions of some humans had hurt her, she did not attack a single soul as she was roamed about in pain. Though the forest rangers tried to help her, all their efforts were in vain. Reading the news article was harsh enough. I don’t want to rehash the whole details. Kindly google in case you’re interested to know more about this incident. But beware of false news fabricated solely for dramatic uses.
Dear departed souls, please know that not all humans are like the ones who caused you so much harm. I beg your pardon for all the harm that has been inflicted upon you and your unborn baby. Please know that there are a million human who would have done anything and everything in our power to save you from such a terrible fate. But Alas! we are too late for that now. Rest in peace, sweet souls.
I’m heartbroken. This was not humane. Humans inflict so much harm to animals, intentionally and unintentionally. And yet, we are ones called “humans” and they are ones who are called as “animals”.
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A sad story Shweta. Humans are unkind to their fellow being, why would they spare animals? Not all but some surely are.
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Indeed. That is very true. But this was an excruciatingly painful way to deal with them. My heart breaks at the very thought of her tragic end. 😢💔
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I agree it was very brutal and tragic.
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Very much. They have caught the people responsible for it. We have to see how and when they will be punished
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I hope they get what they deserve.
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Me too 😊
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👍
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I hate that people treat animals like this just because they can’t defend themselves. This is just so disgusting and messed up.
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Indeed. Such traps turn out to be extremely fatal. It’s heartbreaking indeed.
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Heartbreakingly true💔
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Indeed! Thanks for reading, Akshita.
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My pleasure 😊
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♥️🤗
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A heart-breaking, terrible story indeed. Some wise person once said, “The cause of problems is solutions.” In this case is was so true. Wild boars are destructive and can be murderous but explosive-laden pineapple can kill people, too.
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Indeed. It’s a very cruel way to deal with wild boars. And this poor elephant and her baby turned out to be unfortunate victims
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Heartbreaking story 😞. I read in the papers , felt so disturbed !
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Indeed. It was so tragic and unfortunate. But even more heartbreaking is the fact that this news has been twisted and contorted to the point where facts are blurred. I just updated by note to include the noteworthy points that many media outlets chose to twist.
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I noticed that . Good post there , the facts of the story are well penned. 👍
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I’m glad to hear that. Thank you so much 💕🤗
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Indeed. Thanks for reading, Akshitha
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Very, very sad and we humans have lost our compassion and kindness that is all I can say, Shweta. Who knows what extent we can still go with the species that don’t talk.
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Indeed. It’s so terrible. I’m in total agreement, Kamalji
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Yes Shweta and then if God does not show any mercy on us isn’t it true. We as humans are hurting our God because God is in everyone and everything.
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Exactly. Makes one wonder if humans are the real viruses
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No Shweta we all are not selfish and crude. There are many humans who show so much compassion and kindness towards all. So life is very uncertain at times and things drastically change for the worse and for good too
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Yes. We are not all like that. But we are advancing more and more at the cost of the environment and mother Earth at times. I was only referring to that. 😅
Life will never be the same even after corona. I wonder when this will end. I got it ends soon
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Yes life will now be different and we will all learn to value life and not take anything lightly but think about others too in a selfless manner. Actually our Earth is moving to a new dimension and so she is rapidly changing and we as humans are not being able to cope up. Who knows what will happen and we will be having our life as before
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Indeed. Hopefully, it’s a change for a better. And by now, we would have realised the true value of Mother Earth and Mother Nature. Thank you so much for your very thoughtful comments. ♥️🤗
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You are always welcome dear Shweta and I agree totally with your words dear. Take care 😊😊😊😊😊
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Thank you so much, dear ♥️🤗
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Welcome Shweta.
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🙂
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❤️❤️❤️❤️
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No animal deserves cruelty! A very inhuman and heartbreaking incident! Well described!
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Indeed. Poor creatures. They can’t even speak up. Thank you so much, Aashi.
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My pleasure 🤗
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♥️🤗
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I wonder who’s wilder; animals? Or us??
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Us. I think so.
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Yes. Humans have lost humanity.
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Indeed. We should reverse the definitions of human and animal! Thanks for reading, Muskan 🤗
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I like how you describe your thoughts . So always welcome. 🙂
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Thanks again for you kind words ♥️🤗
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Humans have lost their all values don’t know what will happen next
Very well written, Shweta, it is heartbreaking and emotional
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Maybe we are the actual viruses. Thank you so much for reading, Era. ♥️🤗
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I think even viruses are better then humans 😅
You’re most welcome ❣❣❣
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Some incidents certainly make us think so. But as Kamalji has rightly pointed out, not all humans are greedy, selfish, unkind and uncompassionate.
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Yes, you are right, still there are humans left like them which makes this world still livable 😊
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Indeed.
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Thanks again for reading 🤗
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This was really sad!
It’s a tough time for humanity!
Everyone is being cruel now!
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It was heartbreaking. Indeed. There’s a lot of negativity out there. Thank you so much for reading, Rashmi. ♥️🤗 I missed your poems today.
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I’ll try posting it soon Shweta ♥️
I love to see such comments 🙈
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Please do. It’s my pleasure to read your poems, dear.
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Very soon.
I’ve scheduled it for noon!
It accidentally rhymed🙈
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Yay! I already read it. See, you are a Rhyming Queen indeed.
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Oh Shweta.. since morning… thus has been haunting. Nothing more to say 🙁
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So true. It’s so tragic and disturbing! That poor elephant and her baby 😢
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Yes 😕😕😕
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I come to tears reading stories about how humans abuse animals, in so many ways. The trophy hunting, dumping, starving, beating…It makes me absolutely sick! Thank you for sharing the story. My heart is with them too!
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Indeed. So there’s just so much injustice. And those poor creatures can’t even speak for themselves. My heart is with them too. Thanks for reading, Christine 😄
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This is heartbreaking..inhumane and unacceptable..!!
Maybe animals are less wild and humans are no more humans now.
(But some humans love animals 🥺)
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There are a few humans who are heartless. They are the ones who make us question if humanity is dead. Thank you for reading, Anushka ♥️
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Humans are just out of their minds.
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Some are. Although she was an accidental victim, the traps were meant for wild boars. It’s a heartless and brutal way to deal with animals even if they are destroying crops.
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Heartbreaking story Shweta. Man is the cruelest of all living beings!
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Indeed. We think we have some sort of power over all other living creatures.
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The incident alone is heart-wrenching. And the blame game that’s happening around that just makes it worse!
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Indeed. There’s so much negativity out there! Everyone’s pointing fingers at each other. Not to mention the many who are mocking the entire state of Kerala and its people because of this.
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This is heart-wrenching. Cruelty at its peak! It’s very difficult to get over this. From an update yesterday, I got to know it was a coconut and not pineapple.
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Indeed. It’s very difficult to digest indeed. Yes, I had heard about that update too. Apparently, from the contents of her stomach they were not able to conclude that it was a pineapple. All they could say was that her mouth was extremely destroyed by an explosion.
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Ohhhh dear….i dont have words to describe this incident😐😐
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It was extremely tragic 💔
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