Elephant lifts mahout upside down during Kerala couple’s wedding photoshoot. Watch video

While shutterbugs captured the newly married couple against the background of an elephant, they did not expect the turn of events to be scary. The elephant, which was seen moving forward, suddenly got agitated and furiously lifted with its tusk a mahout who was standing by its side. A second mahout remained seated on top of the animal all this while. The first mahout escaped unhurt as he could let go of his mel mundu (piece of cloth worn over one’s shoulders and chest) that the elephant had caught hold of.

“We were posing for a photo. All of a sudden everyone ran screaming. She grabbed my hand and ran along,” the groom is heard saying in a video. “My belief is that they will react only if we hurt them”. As the bride says they did not harm the elephant, he replies that it did not attack them.

The clip shared by the Instagram handle Wedding Mojito has gone viral and has got more than 30,000 views on the Meta-owned platform. Netizens were left agitated over the way the elephant has been treated.

An Instagram user commented, “The natural habitat of Elephant is in forest,this is what happens when they are caged, chained and beaten just for some stupid brainless humans.” Another user wrote, “Mindless fools would really go out there and promote this. Such insensitive people. They should be treated the way the elephant is treated and then check if they still find this humorous.”

A Mathrubhumi report said the second mahout managed to pacify the elephant and that no one was injured in the November 10 incident. After the elephant calmed down, it was tied with a rope near the temple premises.