Elephant 'too kind' but still throws fright into reckless tourists

Tourists in India discovered recently that elephants will not always tolerate being cornered by vehicles full of frenzied admirers.

The accompanying footage, believed to have been captured in Jim Corbett National Park, shows a chaotic scene in which a large elephant singled out one vehicle as a means of expressing its disapproval. (Video contains profanity.)

At one point the elephant backs up before reemerging to step on the vehicle’s bumper before moving to the driver’s side and forcing the occupants to exit the passenger side.

“This gentle giant was too kind,” Ramesh Pandey of the Indian Forest Service observed via X.

Drivers and guides take liberty to approach animals due to their so called experience of ‘knowing’ the identified animals. However animal may get irritated sometime and breakdown of safari gypsy results into a death trap.
The ‘gentle giant’ was too kind. pic.twitter.com/gACjCj1zEM

— Ramesh Pandey (@rameshpandeyifs) May 1, 2024

The Stripes and Green Earth Foundation (SAGE) also shared the footage while criticizing the tourists’ clear violation of distance guidelines.

To be sure, the elephant exhibited restraint by not becoming aggressive and creating a potentially deadly situation.

The footage ends with the elephant to the right of the frame as a crew examines possible damage to the vehicle.