An elephant became irritated with her abusive handler poking her with a stick and trampled him to death in India.

The female jumbo named Lakshmi knocked down and brutally stomped on her mahout, M Balakrishnan, 62, at an illegal safari park, Kerala Farm, in Idduki district in Kerala, on June 20.

CCTV footage shows the caretaker poking the 53-year-old cow with the long cane as he tried to usher her into an enclosure.

However, the annoyed animal charged at him instead, clomping on his back as he lay on the ground. The man was bent double from the weight of the elephant, which snapped his spine in two. The beast then mercilessly thrashed his mangled body with her trunk.

Another mahout rushed over and managed to calm down the rampaging Lakshmi, but Balakrishnan was already dead from his severe injuries.

His body underwent a post-mortem examination before being handed over to relatives for a funeral.

Following the attack, Idduki Assistant Conservator of Forests, P K Vipindas, has ordered the safari owner, P P Bijesh, to cease operations and move Lakshmi to Kottayam district.

The policeman said: 'As per the Captive Elephant Management Rules, 2003, elephants can be used only for parading associated with religious functions, with permission from the district level monitoring committee.

'To use elephants for safari, the owner has to get a licence from the Animal Welfare Board of India. I have booked 11 cases against illegal elephant safaris in Idukki during the past two years. None of these safaris possess a valid licence.

'However, the rules do not specify penal action for using elephants for safari. The government has taken steps to amend the rules and a stakeholders' meeting will be held on June 26 to discuss the amendment.'

Balakrishnan was reportedly the sixth local to be killed in an elephant attack in Kerala's Idukki district this year.

In March, a woman named Indira Ramakrishnan, 70, was also trampled to death while letting her sheep graze at a pasture in Adimali town.

Elephant safari parks had been banned by the Kerala High Court in 2020, but resumed operations just a few months after closure.

India has at least 30,000 wild elephants - more than any other country and approximately 60 per cent of the world's entire Asian elephant population.