The elephant calf which was detained by officials of the Gannoruwa Wildlife Department and its guardian were produced before court on Friday. 

Kandy Additional Magistrate Shrinath Wijesekera ordered that the guardian of the elephant calf be remanded until May 20.

The lawyer representing the Wildlife Authority,  K.  Bandara informed court that another elephant calf that had been present along with the detained calf had gone missing. 

The elephant calf was detained by the officials of the Wildlife Authority  from a house in Gannoruwa on Thursday following a dispute over legal documents claiming guardianship over the elephant.

The raid was carried out by the wild life authorities following a tip off received citing that an elephant calf is found inside the veterinarian faculty of the Peradeniya University.

Wildlife Authority officials state that there remains contradiction in the documents forwarded claiming ownership over the elephant calf. Therefore, the elephant calf and the guardian were produced before court . The court ordered that a report be produced citing the age of the elephant calf.

The elephant calf was later taken to the National Elephant Detention Centre in Udawalawe.

Meanwhile, Minister Vijith Wijayamuni on Thursday visited the house in which the elephant was detained. He said; “If we receive a tip off we will definite carry out a raid . The officials at the authority do face many difficulties. We have a group of talented officials. Do not rear elephants illegally. We will nab the perpetrators – the officials of the ministry nor I will not evade our responsibilities.”

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