Man Beats Elephant With Cane Before Slipping Under and Being Crushed to Death

A shocking video was released that showed a man being crushed to death by an elephant in Karappuzha in southern India. The elephant was reportedly owned by a local hospital trust.

The man in the video, Arun Panikkar, was an animal carer for the elephant and was washing the elephant. The 40-year old man tried to get the elephant to sit down to clean their back. The man is seen hitting the elephant with a cane so hard that he loses his balance and slips underneath the animal.

A second man sees what happens and runs to get the elephant off of the man. He eventually gets the elephant to stand up, but it was too late. An examination of Panikkar found that he died instantly.

There is an open investigation into the situation. While this is an extremely unfortunate event, and no one should die this way, the elephant should not have been in captivity either. It is evident through the CCTV that the carer normally would beat the elephant to get him to do what he wanted.

Although devastating, this would not have happened if the elephant had been out in the wild where he should have been. Animals do not belong in captivity getting abused by their handlers.

Sign this petition to stop the massacre of elephants in India!

Related Content:

• Elephant Recovers After Being Found with a Spear in his Stomach
• Send Shankar Home: Plea to Help Lonely African Elephant Living in Indian Zoo Get Home
• When Elephants Go Extinct, They Will Take the Trees With Them
• Two More Elephants Dead After Eating Plastic In Sir Lanka Dump
• Rescue Elephants Receive Specialty Foot Care to Recover From Years of Neglect

Easy Ways to Help the Planet:

• Eat Less Meat: Download Food Monster, the largest plant-based Recipe app on the App Store to help reduce your environmental footprint, save animals and get healthy. You can also buy a hard or soft copy of our favorite vegan cookbooks.
• Reduce Your Fast Fashion Footprint: Take initiative by standing up against fast fashion Pollution and supporting sustainable and circular brands like Tiny Rescue that are raising awareness around important issues through recycled zero-waste clothing designed to be returned and remade over and over again.
• Support Independent Media: Being publicly-funded gives us a greater chance to continue providing you with high-quality content. Please consider supporting us by donating!
• Sign a Petition: Your voice matters! Help turn petitions into victories by signing the latest list of must-sign petitions to help people, animals, and the planet.
• Stay Informed: Keep up with the latest news and important stories involving animals, the environment, sustainable living, food, health, and human interest topics by subscribing to our newsletter!
• Do What You Can: Reduce waste, plant trees, eat local, travel responsibly, reuse stuff, say no to single-use plastics, recycle, vote smart, switch to cold water laundry, divest from fossil fuels, save water, shop wisely, Donate if you can, grow your own food, volunteer, conserve energy, compost, and don’t forget about the microplastics and microbeads lurking in common household and personal care products!