New Delhi: Indian men's football team captain Sunil Chhetri on Wednesday questioned 'evolved species' tag of humans after a pregnant elephant died in Mallapuram, Kerala.
His remark comes as a pregnant elephant died after eating a pineapple stuffed with crackers.
"She was a harmless, pregnant Elephant. That makes the people who did what they did, monsters and I hope so hard that they pay a price. We keep failing nature over and over again. Remind me how we're the more evolved species," Chhetri tweeted.
The elephant had died on May 27 after she ate the pineapple stuffed with crackers and forest officials said that she died standing in river Velliyar after it suffered an injury in its lower jaw.
The elephant was seen standing in the river with her mouth and trunk in the water for some relief from the pain after the fruit exploded in her mouth.
Mannarkkad forest range officer on Wednesday said that an FIR has been lodged against unidentified people under relevant sections of Wild Life Protection Act over the incident.
Following this incident, former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi termed the death of a pregnant elephant in Kerala after she ate cracker-stuffed pineapple allegedly given by a local as "murder" and said Malappuram was the "most violent district" in the country.
"It is not an incident. It is a murder. A pregnant elephant was fed a pineapple filled with a bomb that exploded its mouth. Malappuram is very famous for incidents like this. It is the most violent district in the whole of India," Maneka Gandhi had told a news agency.
