Marauding elephant shot dead

Wildlife Dept to file plaint"

Jayampathy JAYASINGHE

The Wildlife Conservation Department has decided to file plaint in court against several policemen attached to the Kataragama police station for shooting a giant elephant tusker on Friday evening, an official from the Department told the `Sunday Observer' yesterday. The shooting took place at Galge Weheragala in the thick jungles of Yala wildlife sanctuary around 3 pm when the marauding tusker came to attack policemen on duty at the bunker. Several policemen had been on duty at the bunker at the time of the incident.

The eight foot loner with a single tusk had charged at policemen when they shot the bull with their T- 56 rifles. Sources said that one tusk had fallen off the animal several months ago. The veterinary surgeon at Tissamaharama had conducted the post mortem examination yesterday. It was revealed that several shots have been fired at the elephant.

It is estimated that about 150 elephants are killed in Sri Lanka each year when they damage crops of farmers in remote areas.