Industrialist Ratan Tata on Wednesday compared the killing of a pregnant elephant in Kerala to a "meditated murder", and sought justice for the animal.
The elephant was allegedly fed a pineapple with firecrackers inside leading to her death in Silent Valley Forest on May 27. The firecrackers exploded in her mouth when she chomped on the fruit.
"I am grieved and shocked to know that a group of people caused the death of an innocent, passive, pregnant elephant by feeding the elephant with a pineapple filled with firecrackers," Tata, chairman emeritus of the over USD 100 billion Tata Sons, tweeted.
"Such criminal acts against innocent animals are no different than acts of meditated murder against other humans," said the veteran industrialist who is a keen animal lover.
"Justice needs to prevail," he said.
The Kerala government on Wednesday said a wildlife crime investigation team will probe the brutal killing, while the Centre took a serious note of the incident and sought a report from the state.
Earlier, Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar took to the micro-blogging site, to show his resentment. "Central Government has taken a very serious note of the killing of an elephant in Mallapuram, #Kerala. We will not leave any stone unturned to investigate properly and nab the culprit(s). This is not an Indian culture to feed fire crackers and kill," he wrote.
This horrific act sparked outrage on Twitter, where people demanded strict action against the accused. One person, Oman-based has created a Change.org petition addressed to the Minister of law and justice to take appropriate action against the accused.
The problem of course is the lack of punishment for those who indulge in crimes against animals. âConviction of wildlife killing must receive a rigorous sentencing with hefty fines. And until India's wildlife laws were updated recently, penalties for killing were simply fines that had not risen in to keep pace with the atrocities caused to our beloved animals,â the petition argues, adding that âthe inhuman and atrocious killer will hopefully be convicted and punished for harming an innocent animal.â
After the Kerala Forest department launched a 'manhunt' for those responsible for the death of a 15-year-old pregnant wild elephant, Humane Society International/India announced the reward of Rs 50,000 to track down the monsters.
