Karnan the gentle giant,once a temple elephant ,being mercilessly beaten up in thrissur ,kerala pic.twitter.com/hNNGF7VyID — 𝓹𝓻𝓪𝓶𝓸𝓭 𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓻𝓪𝓼𝓮𝓴𝓱𝓪𝓻𝓪𝓷 (@pramodchandrase) March 25, 2019

In a horrific video that went viral on social media, an elephant named Karnan was seen being beaten up mercilessly in Kerala’s Thrissur.

Karnan was once a temple elephant, according to a tweet from animal rescuer and activist Pramod Chandrase. A temple elephant is a captive elephant and an important part of temple traditions in south India.

In a follow-up tweet, Chandrase mentioned that the elephant was rescued and transferred to Palakkad district in Kerala where he was being constantly monitored by the forest department. A case has reportedly been filed against the owner of the elephant and the mahouts (elephant caretakers) have been fired from their jobs. According to Chandrase’s tweet, rescue efforts were undertaken by the Voice for Asian Elephants Society.

The video of the elephant being beaten up had sparked outrage on social media.

Gods own Country But Hell on Earth for Elephants #Kerala https://t.co/sZWUzwpyUe — Anika (@anikasleem) March 25, 2019

This is cruelty beyond words in the land of elephants.

cc : @jus_goddy https://t.co/OvTsWaR47B — !ns0mn!@c n0m@d (@insomniacnomad) March 26, 2019

Beat them in the same manner and they will feel what the merciless torture is! Damn morons mustn't be spared and brought to justice under POCA Act. — Chowkidar🅐🅐🅓🅘🅛 🇮🇳 (@AadilGorkha) March 26, 2019