2 elephants die in another Lanka train collision

COLOMBO: Two elephants were killed and another critically injured Sunday crossing railway tracks in Sri Lanka, officials said, in yet another tragic collision involving the protected animals and speeding trains, reports AFP.

A Jaffna-bound night train rammed into two elephants at Ambanpola, 150 kilometres (93 miles) north of Colombo, killing one and injuring the other. In a separate accident, a passenger train derailed after hitting and killing an elephant near Palugaswewa, 160 kilometres (100 miles) north-east of Colombo.

No passengers were injured in either accident.

“Train services have been disrupted, but we are working to remove the carcass and repair the track on the eastern line,” an official said by telephone.

Speed restrictions are imposed on trains passing through elephant habitats but these are difficult to enforce. Only 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s trains are believed to be equipped with speedometers, local media reported Sunday.

Two weeks ago, a passenger train struck and killed three elephants. A fortnight before that, a mother elephant and her two calves were hit and killed in the east of the country.

Sri Lanka considers elephants a national treasure and they are protected by law. But conflicts between humans and elephants near wildlife sanctuaries remains a problem.

Official figures show 1,200 elephants have been killed by humans in the past five years, with 375 people trampled to death by the beasts.

The government announced in August it would erect 2,651 kilometres (1,556 miles) of electric fencing to keep elephants out of villages bordering wildlife reserves.

It is estimated there are 7,500 wild elephants in Sri Lanka.

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Sri Lanka elephants face plastic danger foraging dumps for food

At a garbage dump in central Sri Lanka a herd of wild elephants forage among a mountain of rubbish, swallowing dangerous scraps of plastic mixed with rotting food in what experts warn is an increasing problem for the revered animals. Due to illegal dumping near wildlife sanctuaries, hundreds of Sri Lanka's estimated 7,500 wild elephants now scavenge at rubbish tips and many are being madesick by what they eat, Jayantha Jayewardene, an expert on Asian elephants, said.

"Sri Lanka considers elephants to be a national treasure, but we see these animals reduced to eating rubbish," Jayewardene told AFP Thursday.

"They have become docile and got so used to tractors bringing them garbage."

A herd of 20 wild elephants at Habarana in the east of Sri Lanka has become totally dependent on rubbish and behaved almost like domestic animals waiting for tractors to tip the garbage.


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Sri Lanka elephants face plastic danger foraging dumps for food

Hundreds of Sri Lanka’s wild elephants now scavage at rubbish dumps, risking their health due to plastic scraps mixed with rotting food

At a garbage dump in central Sri Lanka a herd of wild elephants forage among a mountain of rubbish, swallowing dangerous scraps of plastic mixed with rotting food in what experts warn is an increasing problem for the revered animals.

Due to illegal dumping near wildlife sanctuaries, hundreds of Sri Lanka’s estimated 7,500 wild elephants now scavenge at rubbish tips and many are being made sick by what they eat, Jayantha Jayewardene, an expert on Asian elephants, said.

“Sri Lanka considers elephants to be a national treasure, but we see these animals reduced to eating rubbish,” Jayewardene told AFP Thursday.

“They have become docile and got so used to tractors bringing them garbage.”

Some wild elephants have become accustomed to scavanging in rubbish dumps instead of foraging in the jungle

A herd of 20 wild elephants at Habarana in the east of Sri Lanka has become totally dependent on rubbish and behaved almost like domestic animals waiting for tractors to tip the garbage.

“These elephants no longer forage in the jungle. They are like zoo animals. It is a sad sight to see national treasures picking through rotting rubbish,” he said.

The animals can be seen covered in smelly garbage and rooting among piles of plastic bottles, a far cry from the majestic jumbos portrayed in travel brochures.

Jayewardene said the solid waste included plastic scraps despite a government ban on non-biodegradable polythene. Hundreds of elephants elsewhere are also known to forage at dozens of rubbish tips near elephant habitats.





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