In a horrific video that went viral on social media, an elephant named Karnan was seen being beaten up mercilessly in Kerala’s Thrissur.

Karnan was once a temple elephant, according to a tweet from animal rescuer and activist Pramod Chandrase. A temple elephant is a captive elephant and an important part of temple traditions in south India.

In a follow-up tweet, Chandrase mentioned that the elephant was rescued and transferred to Palakkad district in Kerala where he was being constantly monitored by the forest department. A case has reportedly been filed against the owner of the elephant and the mahouts (elephant caretakers) have been fired from their jobs. According to Chandrase’s tweet, rescue efforts were undertaken by the Voice for Asian Elephants Society.

The video of the elephant being beaten up had sparked outrage on social media.