A wild elephant and her calf trying to cross a national highway cutting through the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary were attacked by a group of tourists. A video accessed by Manorama News shows a couple of youngsters pelting stones at the wild animals and fleeing in a waiting car as the threatened elephant charges towards them.
The Forest Department has filed a case under the Wildlife Protection Act for attacking wild animals and putting other travellers’ lives in danger. The offence could attract imprisonment of up to seven years.
“Incidents like this happen because people behave immaturely,” Muthanga deputy range officer Murali Krishnan said. “The Forest Department has registered a case and we are probing it vigorously,” he added.
The mother and child were looking for food and water across the national highway 212 when the youngsters stopped their car and proceeded to torment them. Though the threatened animals prepared to charge several times, the men continued to pelt stones at them.
Environmental activists have urged the Forest Department to view this aggressive incursion into animal territory with utmost seriousness and ensure exemplary punishment in the case.
Animals have been coming face to face with revellers inside the Wayanad sanctuary more frequently. As the summer parched the forests of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, animals are straying into the Wayanad forest in search of food and water.