No, the Kid Wasn't Attacked for Trying To Feed 'Meat' to This Elephant

The video is from Kerala's Malappuram and the child was feeding coconut to the elephant when he was attacked.

The claim states that the man was feeding the elephant meat.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A video that shows a child accompanied by an elder being attacked by an elephant, as he goes to feed it, is being shared with a claim that the child is Muslim and tried feeding "meat" to the animal.

The claim further goes on to say that the state is even trying to "convert animals to Islam."

However, we found that the videos is being shared with a false claim. This incident happened in April in Kerala's Malappuram district where the boy was attacked while he was trying to feed coconut to the tusker.

As per reports, the elephant got irritated and attacked the boy, who was then rescued by his father.

This was also clarified by the boy's father, identified as one Nabeel, in a Facebook post.

CLAIM

The video is being shared with the claim that reads, "This Kerala Muslim fellow tried to give meat to the elephant. See what happened. Are these fellows born idiots or are they trying to convert even animals to Islam?"

An archive of the tweet can be seen here.

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

Several social media users have shared the video along with the same claim and the archived links can be seen here, here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND

We searched on Google with 'child attacked by elephant' as the keywords and found a video published on the YouTube channel of Kerala-based media channel Asianet News.

The video was posted on 6 April and the caption, originally in Malayalam, translated to 'father and son attacked by elephant while going to feed it.'

In the video, the news anchor of the Asianet News says that a father-son duo was attacked by an elephant when they were feeding it in Keezhuparamba.

The father, identified as Nabeel, can then be seen grabbing the son as the tusker attacks it.

Another news report published in The Times of India's Malayalam subsidiary Samayam on 8 April mentioned that the elephant (Kolakkadan Mini) is domesticated by a person named Kolakkadan Nazar.

Speaking about the incident, Nazar told the daily that several people had disturbed the elephant previously by feeding banana peels and coconut husk because of which the elephant got angry and attacked the little boy.

Nazar added that they had come to give coconut to the elephant when nobody [he or caretaker] were around. However, the elephant's legs were tied and they shouldn't have gone near it, he said.

THE BOY'S FATHER CLARIFIED ON THE RUMOURS

We then looked up the profile of Nabeel Kunhappu and found a video posted by him on 8 April.

Nabeel said that he had gone to Malappuram along with his family members, and all of them had decided to go see the elephant, Mini.

He said that he had fed the elephant coconut first and his son later insisted on feeding the elephant, to which Nabeel agreed.

When they went near the elephant and his son was about to feed it, the tusker grabbed him and tossed him slightly. He added that his son sustained minor injuries on his head.

"I posted this video after people on social media shared it with false claims," he said.

In the video from 2:37 mins-2:43 mins, one can see Nabeel holding a coconut, as his son tags along.

Clearly, a video of an elephant attacking a child in Kerala is being shared with a false communal claim.

(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9643651818, or e-mail it to us at [e-mail] and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)