Video of TikToker harassing wild elephant in Sri Lanka sparks outrage

A video of a TikToker harassing a wild elephant in Sri Lanka has sparked outrage on social media.

The person tried to scare away the elephant by driving his vehicle too close to the wild animal, while recording the entire incident.

The TikTok video, posted by the user @shashikagimhandha, shows the moment when the driver chanced upon a wild elephant on a road at night. Instead of waiting for the animal to pass, the driver charged towards it in a teasing manner and shining the vehicle?s strong headlight at it.

Visibly scared, the animal begins to back off but the person kept driving towards it even as the hapless creature kept trumpeting in distress and tried to seek refuge behind a tree.

It didn?t take long for the video to trigger an outcry online after Poorna Seneviratne (@PoornaSenev) shared it on Twitter. ?If you don?t have an ounce of brains to not realize that this is absolutely disgusting and wrong, you need to be absolutely destroyed,? Seneviratne wrote. ?DO NOT endanger and disturb wildlife for stupid social media views,? he added online, tagging important personalities as well as the official handles of authorities.

Soon, netizens too condemned the video and sought action against the person in question. In a joint effort that followed, people dug out the perpetrator?s Facebook profile and also revealed the jeep?s number while tagging the police.

Wildlife and Nature Protection Society of Sri Lanka (WNPSSL) wrote on Twitter that all details of the incident have been submitted to the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) for action.

?Not the first time this has happen in SL and it?s time we stop this playful behaviour.. let the animals live peacefully,? Sri Lankan cricketer Mahela Jayawardena wrote on Twitter.

?Absolutely unacceptable behaviour. People like this should be black listed and banned from entering any parks or wild spaces,? another user wrote online. (Indian Express / Colombo Gazette)