Elephant attacks mahout in illegal safari center in southern India
June 24, 2024
by Ekta Chaubey
by Ekta ChaubeyAn elephant crushed its mahout to death in southern India’s Kerala.
The incident took place in a safari center in Kallar village of Idukki district on June 20.
Visuals showed the mahout repeatedly hitting the elephant’s leg with a stick, which angered the animal. It first kicked him and broke his waist. Then it crushed his back. The angry elephant continued to vent its anger even after this. Later, another mahout somehow controlled the elephant.
According to the forest department, the safari center where the mahout died was being run illegally. The safari operators had not registered it under the Animal Welfare Board of India. In this case, the forest department has issued a stop memo to the safari center and closed it.
The mahout was identified as Balakrishnan (62) and he had been working at a private elephant safari center in Kallar for many years. At 6 pm on incident day, he was preparing the elephant to take tourists for a ride.
According to the forest department, after the postmortem, the body of the mahout has been handed over to the family. The elephant that crushed the mahout is not an adult.