Man disturbs elephant, pokes it with a stick. Then this happens

An IFS officer shared a video of a man poking an elephant with a stick and called it 'just madness'. The video has sparked chatter on X.

Social media is filled with posts from forest service officials and authorities warning people not to get too close to wildlife or how to behave once they come face to face with wild animals. Yet, there are videos on the Internet that show people doing the exact opposite and putting their lives at risk in the process. An IFS officer took to X to re-share an old video that shows a man poking an elephant with a stick.

The image shows a man trying to poke an elephant with a stick. (X/@Airawat)

IFS officer Surendra Mehra re-posted the video that was originally tweeted back in 2022 by another user of the microblogging platform, Kaushik Barua.

“When humans lose fear of wildlife and wildlife lose fear of humans, it's not coexistence but a recipe for disaster,” Barua wrote and mentioned that the incident took place in Assam.

Mehra reposted the video and wrote, “Just madness. What makes it possible for someone to think in that way ? Such provocations definitely lead to Man-Animal conflict”.

The video is short but surely terrifying. It shows two men standing in front of a herd of elephants. One of the men approaches an elephant in the front and pokes it with a stick. The video ends with the elephant charging at the men and both of them running away.

Take at the look at the terrifying video:

“True, it should be avoided,” wrote an X user. “Strict action required,” added another. “And then it is called man-animal conflict. It is stupid-animal conflict actually,” posted a third. “Really shocking behaviour. There is life risk. The way the youth is attacking the Jumbo, he is inviting retaliation which would be fatal,” added a fourth.