News
Three more elephants found dead at National Park , Thandikulam
View(s):
Altogether 7 elephants have died at the Thandikulam National Park at Habarana -Pic by Kanchana Kumara
Three more elephants have been found dead yesterday at the Thumbikulam reserve at Habarana, bringing the total number of elephants found dead at the park to seven, Wildlife Conservation Department (DWC) officials said.
In a pathetic scene, a five-year-old calf was seen refusing to leave the site of one of the elephants, believed to be its mother. The baby elephant attempted to revive the dead elephant by trying to breath into its mouth.
Since wildlife officers were unable to approach the mother elephant to carry out a post-mortum examination they were forced to tranquilise the calf and drive it into the jungle.A visibly shaken Wildlife State Minister Ranjith Aluwihare who arrived at the scene reprimanded wildlife officers for not informing him about the tragedy. He said he had to learn of the deaths from media reports.
Earlier on Friday, wildlife officials had found four dead elephants in the same reserve.
The officials said they believed all the animals were from a single herd, and they were females with their ages ranging between 25 and 35 years. Meanwhile, DWC Director General Chandana Sooriyabandara, told the Sunday Times they had informed the Kekirawa Magistrate about the deaths. He said two veterinary surgeons had carried out the post-mortem examination and another veterinary surgeon was scheduled to go there today to carry out investigations into the mysterious deaths”
The Wildlife Department would be producing a progress report in court to get an order to send samples collected at the post-mortem examinations for further investigation.
Meanwhile, in another incident the body of a tusker had been found in Moragahawewa in Puttlam. Veterinarian Dr. Chandana Jayasinghe, said he believed the animal, around 7 feet tall and 15 years old, had died of poisoning.
He added one of the tusks of the beast was missing and said he believed that whoever attempted to retrieve the tusks was unable to remove the other as the animal had fallen in a muddy area.
- Altogether 7 elephants have died at the Thandikulam National Park at Habarana -Pic by Kanchana Kumara