News
Mutilated tusker avenged by swift action
The scene of the horrific crime
An elephant lying near a tank with part of its head missing and its trunk chopped off – this was the gruesome scene Kataragama wildlife officers saw when they reached the forested area near Gothirigama at Kataragama last Sunday.
The Deputy Director in charge of the Uwa Wildlife Zone, W.A.D.U. Indrajith, told The Sunday Times that, from the moment they saw the headless elephant at the Samurdhi Wewa tank near Yala Block Three, they suspected it had been a tusker, killed for ivory.
Somewhere in Block Three, one of the elephant’s killers is still hiding. A high-powered investigated has netted his accomplices.
Wildlife officers began immediate investigations after discovering the elephant’s remains.
A postmortem inquiry found the elephant had suffered instant death, having been shot through the head. As well as having its head and trunk cut off, the elephant’s tail had also been removed.
The bullet that penetrated its brain was not found as the front portion of the head had been taken away by the killers.
The attack had taken place the previous evening, the postmortem results suggested.
Political pressure powered up investigations: the Minister for Wildlife, C.B. Ratnayake, and the State Minister for Forest Protection, Elephant Fences and Trenches Construction, Reforestation and Forest Resource Development, Wimalaweera Dissanayake, ordered police to support the wildlife officers.
Deputy Inspector-General (DIG) Nuwan Wedasinghe of the Galle Range, Matara and Hambantota, said two police teams were on the case, with personnel from the Divisional Crime Detection Bureau and Kataragama police.
He said two suspects have been arrested and taken to court. A third suspect is still hiding in Yala Block Three, which is closed to visitors.
“We are using sniffer dogs to track the third suspect,” he said. “Police Special Task Force officers and officers of the Kataragama police have been stationed in in the park for several days.”
The breakthrough came when police intelligence officers identified the man who supplied the shotgun used in the killing.
“After inquiries, the owner of the gun revealed information about the other two suspects,” DIG Wedasinghe said.
Soon afterwards, police tracked down one of those men and arrested him, also seizing the gun and the axe used to hack off parts of the tusker.
Acting upon confessions, police found the elephant’s tusks and tail hidden on a site in Gothirigama. The majestic tusks are three feet, six inches long, police said.
The two arrested men have been placed in remand until September 1 while the authorities stalk the other in the Yala jungles.
| We’re coming after you, say police Police will join up with Department of Wildlife and Conservation officers in a new offensive to take action against wildlife crime inside parks. Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Nuwan Wedasinghe, in charge of the Galle Range, Matara and Hambantota, told The Sunday Times police units will be deployed to take action against poachers who kill or trap deer, boar and sambar deer – a vulnerable species – and harm other protected animals.He said the action is sending a message to poachers that police will hunt them down and that no-one will get away with crimes against animals. | |