One must always be careful while driving on roads in India. If you are driving through a forest area, you should always be alert. Lately, we have seen a lot of cases where people have tried to interact with wild animals on such roads, and that did not end well. Here is one such video from Kerala’s Muthanga, where men trying to take a picture of a wild elephant narrowly escaped from being crushed by the animal. The video has already gone viral on the internet.
The video was shared by Wayanadgram on their Instagram channel. It was recorded by a car occupant who was right in front of the Hyundai i20. Judging by the registration number of the vehicle, it seems like the occupants in the car were tourists traveling through this route. They probably got excited after spotting a wild elephant on the roadside. Reports suggest that the men got out of the car and started taking selfies with the elephant on the road.
The elephant suddenly charged at the men, and before they could do anything, the elephant was already after them. The video was recorded by Sawaad, an NRI traveling to Ooty with his family, who spotted an elephant charging towards a group of men. He took out his phone and recorded the whole incident. In the video, we can see two men running next to the Hyundai i20 while the elephant chases them.
Both of them tried to get into the car, but the elephant was so close that they didn’t have time to open the door and get in. After running for a few meters, one of them fell to the ground. The elephant immediately stopped and turned around. If you look carefully, the elephant did try to kick the man on the ground with its rear legs; however, the man was extremely lucky to have escaped. The elephant attempted to kick the person a couple of times but failed to do so.
The man then rolled into the woods and ran into the forest to avoid getting trapped in front of the animal once again. We can see that the elephant then ran away from the spot in the opposite direction, probably after another vehicle coming from the opposite direction. The men would have probably learned their lesson from just this one incident. This video is a perfect example that shows why one must never stop on the road while passing through a forest area. Even if you stop your vehicle, do not try to get out of the vehicle or get too close to the wild animals.
Some of these animals are extremely territorial and may even attack people. Avoid driving through such roads at night, as many animals become active during this time. If you see animals walking towards you, slowly drive the car in reverse without making much noise. Also, do not make noise, as it disturbs or scares them and provokes them to attack. At the end of the day these are wild animals and no one can predict how they will behave in these situation as they have never interacted with humans.