AN angry elephant charged at a tourist and trampled on him after the man tried to take a selfie with it.
The man, identified as R.Basavaraju, reportedly trespassed into a restricted forest near a temple in southwest India on Sunday.
He allegedly tried to take a picture with the massive mammal but ended up running for his life in a freak incident.
Terrifying footage of the encounter has emerged online – filmed by visitors at the reserve in Karnataka.
The scene unfolds with an elephant standing by the roadside before suddenly swinging its trunk and charging across the road right in front of a moving vehicle, pursuing a retreating tourist.
Basavaraju is seen turning around and dashing away from the mammal into the busy road.
He stumbles and falls before the elephant catches up and stomps on him several times- managing to take off his pants and underwear in the attack.
The elephant hovers over the tourist then trots away- allowing the man to get up from the horrifying attack and flee to safety.
Fortunately, in a shocking turn of events, the man survived but was taken to hospital with severe injuries.
According to a witness, Daniel Osorio, the elephant was seen eating carrots roadside when the tourist approached the animal to take a selfie.
The elephant was disturbed by the sudden bright flash and attacked the man in a sudden urge of annoyance.
Basavaraju was slapped with a hefty fine of 25,000 Rupees which is just over £200- and forced to make a video confessing to his actions.
In the video he admits his behaviour stemmed from lack of knowledge on wildlife safety rules.
Witness Osorio commented: “This serves as a stark reminder to adhere to the guidelines of wildlife reserves and allow trained professionals, not pedestrians, to handle such scenarios.”
He also warned other tourists to not make the same mistake.
The Forest Department said: “Such reckless stunts not only endanger human lives but also provoke unpredictable and dangerous animal behaviour”.
The Indian sub-continent has at least 30,000 wild elephants- more than any other country.
They are also home to 60 per cent of the world’s entire Asian elephant population.
This is not the only animal attack that has happened in India in recent years.
This follows a similarly frightening incident where footage caught the exact moment a leopard attacked a group of friends on a picnic last year.
Elephant facts
by Jeylin Mehmet
ELEPHANT’S have the biggest brains of any land animal.
Their tusks are actually overgrown teeth and can weigh more than 100kg each.
An elephant’s trunk contains over 40,000 muscles and works like a built-in shower, snorkel and straw.
They communicate using rumbles, trumpets and even deep sounds humans can’t hear.
Elephants live in close family herds led by a female – usually its mum.
All elephant species are under threat from poaching and habitat destruction.
According to the World Health Organisation, roughly 500 people are killed by elephants each year globally.
The predator unexpectedly charged at around 60 people and mauled the pals in Shahdol, India, in the Madhya Pradesh state.
This shocking incident left three people injured.
The horrifying video showed the moment the leopard pounced out of the trees in a park on 20 October.
The predator leaped at its first target, reportedly a 23-year-old named Akash Kushwaha, with one man seen collapsing to the ground, according to the Times of India.
As this man was mauled, another person was seen running away from the leopard and the fallen man.
A group of around four men then rushed back to help the injured victim.
The video abruptly ended after the leopard moved away from the park-goers.
An off-duty police officer and a woman were also attacked by the predator, according to local media.
These two victims reportedly sustained major head injuries in the incident, per the Times of India.
Other members of the crowd sustained minor injuries during the mad rush away from the animal.
