Pregnant elephant dies after mouth and tongue blown off while eating fruit filled with explosives

A pregnant elephant died after eating fruit containing an explosive, forestry officials in southern India have said.

The animal was eating what is thought to have been a pineapple when a device blew out her mouth and tongue in the Palakkad district of Kerala.

The incident, which drew outrage on social media, has prompted a criminal investigation into suspected animal cruelty.

Locals in the area have been known to scatter fruit spiked with firecrackers to discourage animals from damaging crops, authorities said.

Forestry officer, Mohan Krishnan, posted an emotional apology to the elephant on May 30.

"Sorry sister," he said “With her mouth and tongue destroyed in the explosion, she paced around hungry without being able to eat.

"She must have been more worried about the health of the child inside her than about her own hunger.”

Forestry official Sunil Kumar said the perpetrators could face animal cruelty charges that could bring fines or even a jail term.

“We only know that the injury (to the elephant) was caused by some explosive substance,” he said.

India has the world’s largest population of the Asiatic elephant but they are classified as an endangered species.

Incidents of human-animal conflict are not uncommon as elephants often stray into human settlements hunting for food.

The pregnant elephant had wandered out of the local Silent Valley National Park in search of food when the incident occurred, forestry officials said.

They later found the elephant trying to cool herself in a stream but as locals tried to heave it out of the water to take it to a treatment centre, the animal collapsed and died.