Three elephants have been filmed checking out a hospital as they strolled along corridors in front of shocked onlookers.
Clearly there wasn’t much space for the massive animals and one, struggling with a narrow passageway, was forced to go through a set of doors backwards in the Indian hospital.
One of the elephants could be seen standing for a while in a corridor of the Binnaguri army camp hospital, in West Bengal, and looked as surprised as staff.
Indian Forest Service Officer Susanta Nanda tweeted the amazing footage captioning it: “Elephants in the room … From Jalpaiguri Cantonment.”
It has quickly gone viral on social media with many commenting on the unusual scene.
One person joked: “Lab inspection by top management” and other similarly wrote: “Must have come for regular health check-up.”
Others were more serious and see it as the result of land being continually built on in India that belonged to animals.
A person tweeted: “I think this happens when you occupy their habitat and make structures on that. It’s their land and (they) want it back.”
Another wrote: “When we invade their space it’s vice-versa” and one said: “Hope they got back to their natural habitat safely.”
There has been an increase in interaction between elephants and humans, due to a loss in the animals’ natural habitat, which often leads to injury and death.
Conservationists have said it is important that forested areas become protected and that migration corridors are restored.
More than 1,500 people have died in elephant attacks in the country in the past three years, with 300 of the animals killed in retaliation, according to government figures, reported Deutsche Welle.
Meanwhile, an elephant in Thailand ripped its handler in half after high temperatures likely made it "go crazy", said police.
Investigators believe the animal had grown frustrated at having to transport rubberwood at a plantation in Phang Nga province during the scorching temperatures.
The 20-year-old elephant, called Pom Pam, stabbed handler Supachai Wongfaed, 32, with his tusks and then pulled him apart, according to reports.
Police, the village chief, and rescue workers found him ripped in two in a pool of blood. His body was retrieved after livestock officers shot the elephant with a sedative dart.
Elephants are usually gentle natured, but can become aggressive when they feel harassed, vulnerable or threatened.
