All-you-can-drink booze? Count these elephants in!
A herd of two dozen elephants was caught sleeping off hangovers after drinking alcohol made by villagers in India.
The elephants came across the brew — also known as “mahua,” which is a traditional liquor made from the flower of the madhuca longifolia tree — and apparently couldn’t resist a buzz, reported The Times UK.
Elephants are known to be fans of mahua, according to Kartick Satyanarayan, the chief executive of Wildlife SOS.
“When they smell it, they can poke their trunks into kitchens or break down walls to get to it. Once finished, they stagger back home, toppling the odd tree or house on the way,” Satyanarayan said.
Locals from the village of Salipada left the jars of alcohol fermenting in the jungle, allowing these alcohol-loving elephants to dip their trunks in.
The elephants — including nine calves — apparently lost sight of what their alcohol limit was and drank all of the mahua until they blacked out.
Local wildlife officials reportedly woke up the heavy sleepers by beating on drums, and the hungover animals slowly got up and stumbled back into the forest.
This was not the first occurrence of elephants drinking more than they can handle.
In April, a herd of elephants, who some consider “addicted” to the fermented alcohol, killed five people brewing liquor in the Jaisingh Nagar forest range, according to the Daily Mail.
Forest officials warn locals to avoid brewing mahua when elephants are spotted nearby because they can smell the liquor from a distance and move closer to cause drunken havoc.