Flash Photo Gets Tourist Stomped On, Pantsed By An Angry Elephant

In life, you get a lot of rules thrown at you, and sometimes those rules leave you scratching your head. Like, I get that I'm supposed to put my phone in airplane mode, but is the plane really going to plummet out of the sky like it's made of cement if I forget?

Another rule like this is "no flash photography." I've heard this in all kinds of places. On theme park rides, in museums, and in zoos.

Well, one man put on a demonstration of why you might want to steer clear of the flash if you're going to try snapping some photos of an elephant for the 'gram.

A video has been making the rounds of an elephant standing next to a pretty busy dirt road through a wildlife preserve, throwing back some carrots while scooters and cars try to zip past it.

I thought I was looking at an African elephant because it looks pretty big, but The New York Post reported that this video was from Karnataka, India. That would lead me to believe it was an Indian elephant.

They're called context clues, kids; use 'em. 

A few people were standing there watching the elephant when, all of a sudden, it charged at one man — identified as tourist R. Basavaraju — who had just snapped a selfie with the elephant using his flash.

Basavaraju fell while trying to get away from the elephant, which stomped on him several times, ripping off his pants and underwear. He survived the attack but was taken to the hospital with injuries.

I don't mean to victim-blame here, but you kind of deserve to get trampled and pantsed by an elephant if you think you need to use a flash in broad daylight to take a photo of an elephant that's like 30 yards away.

The giant ball of fire floating in space — the sun, to the layperson — is spitting out more than enough light for your photo, and that tiny bulb on your phone isn't going to reach far enough to light the elephant from that distance.

Also, that picture isn't going on the cover of National Geographic. You're going to post it on Facebook with some lame caption like, "So this happened…"

So, if you find yourself in a similar situation, make sure that flash is off.

Unless you want to get stomped on by a pachyderm to the point that you're left lying on a dirt road with your bare ass hanging out.