Elephant struggles to cross busy road, netizens call for better infrastructure

A video of an elephant trying to cross a busy road near Haridwar has yet again left several netizens upset. The clip shared by IFS Officer Akash Kumar Verma shows the heavy flow of traffic on National Highway 74, a road which has a forested area on both sides. While the giant tusker is seen standing by the side of the road waiting to cross it, the ‘ignorant and selfish’ humans can be heard honking and making it difficult for the elephant to figure out its next move. 

The clip starts with an elephant walking towards the highway and then pausing as soon as it reaches the side of the road. The tusker is then seen patiently waiting for the cars to stop, however, with cars speeding in front of it, the elephant can then also be seen chasing them. Once the vehicles move away from it slowly again tries to cross the road, but as the cars refuse to wait and zoom past, the elephant can be seen walking backwards and again patiently waiting for the route to get clear. 

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Netizens call for better infrastructure 

Since shared, the clip has been viewed over 123,000 times. With more than 6,500 likes and several retweets, the post managed to grab the attention of Bollywood actor and producer Pooja Bhatt as well. Bhatt in the tweet wrote that the tusker shows more ‘grace and restraint’ than humans, while others said that the video is a ‘good example’ of need for ‘smart infrastructure development’. 

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The video also comes after a ‘heart wrenching’ video of an elephant calf struggling to cross over a barrier on the road prompted a discussion on the importance of a suitable mitigation measure for the wildlife. The clip was shared on several social media platforms and it highlighted the need for a wild-life friendly project which is suitable ‘doorway’ for the animals. From calling it ‘shocking’ to urging PM Narendra Modi to look into the matter, netizens were appalled to see humans intruding the path meant for animals and to top it off, ‘taking it for granted’ as well. 

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