As more and more protected lands get illegally encroached on by humans and as more forests and forest lands get cut down every day, elephants are being forced out of their natural habitat.
Unfortunately, after humans force elephants out of their lands, they don't welcome them anywhere else, and take cruel actions to stop the elephants from getting close to their lands.
This was never clearer than it was in the latest incident where farmers fed a pregnant elephant a pineapple filled with explosives and the poor animal wandered the villages looking for help for days before dying in a lake with her unborn child from the excruciating pain.
One man, however, decided to protect two animals from a similar fate.
Mohammad Akhtar is the Chief of the Asian Elephant Rehabilitation and Wildlife Animal Trust (AERAWAT) has always been an animal lover and has spent his entire life viewed by elephants. In a way, he thinks of them more as a family.
He lives with two elephants, Moti and Rani, age 15 and 20 years old, and have been living with them throughout their lifetime.
Akhtar has recently become seriously worried about the increasing hostility towards elephants in the world, and decided to make sure nothing bad will happen to his beloved elephants.
How? by giving them most of his land so they are always safe and so they never go hungry.
“I gave my 6.25-acre land to the two elephants to ensure that when I am not alive, the animals do not suffer hunger.
He thinks it's the least he could do to make sure they are safe for the rest of their lives after they saved his. It's his way of thanking them.
“When I opened my door to see why the elephants were trumpeting, I saw they were chasing criminals nearby. I am alive due to my elephants who had worked like bodyguards to me.”
Unlike some other locals, Akhtar loves elephants and will continue to advocate and protect them.
Although his family may not agree with his decision to will most of his property to the elephants, Akhtar told AFP:
I don’t want my elephants to face the fate of orphaned or abandoned captive elephants who die on the streets or in deserted fields due to lack of proper care.”
Indian elephants are an endangered species and may soon be extinct, if the government doesn’t step up to protect them. Akhtar agrees that something must be done to preserve the species or “the time is not far when we would see the elephant only in books.”