Recent wildlife deaths caused by poisoning: Wildlife Department

COLOMBO (News1 st):- According to the wildlife officials poisoning of the food or water sources had caused the death of the six cow elephants in the Thumbikulama reserve in Hiriwadduna Digampathana, Habarana. Meanwhile, an operation was conducted in the Thumbikulama forest reserve today (September 29) as well. Wildlife officers, the Army together with the area residents conducted these operations. Ten teams were deployed for the purpose. The teams entered the reserve from Masthana Kekirawa, Palugaswewa, and Digampathana in Thumbikulama. The postmortem examinations of the four elephants were conducted yesterday (September 28) and the day before while the postmortem examinations of the remaining three elephants were conducted today. The postmortem examinations was headed by the Wildlife Department's Vet Surgeon in charge of the Anuradhapura zone Chandana Jayasinghe. The postmortem examinations conducted today (September 29) revealed that the wild elephants had died due to poisoning. According to the Wildlife Department's Vet Surgeon in charge of the Anuradhapura zone Chandana Jayasinghe, 6 elephant cows and 1 elephant had died. He said that these elephants had consumed plants in the forest. He continued to say that they are currently conducting exams to identify if they had eaten some toxic grass and that samples of their bodies have already been sent to laboratories. He confirmed that they had not seen any bullet wounds on the bodies of the elephants. He added that it seemed as if some poison had entered the body and immediately killed them. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Wildlife has informed the Director-General of Wildlife Chandana Sooriyabandara to provide a report on the death of the 6 elephants cows, to the Ministry tomorrow.