Seven young elephants drown in Sri Lanka May 27, 2024

Sri Lanka's elephants are seen as a national treasure

By AFP - Agence France Presse

Seven young elephants drown in Sri Lanka

Wildlife officials in Sri Lanka on Sunday found seven carcasses of young elephants believed to have drowned, in the biggest single loss of animals in five years.

An official said the onset of the southwest monsoon led to flooding in the elephants' habitat in Dimbulagala, about 250 kilometers northeast of the capital Colombo.

“We were alerted by residents about three young elephants that had drowned last night, but when we went to the marshy area we found four more,” said a regional wildlife official.

He said that autopsies will be carried out on the seven carcasses on Monday, but a preliminary investigation suggested that the animals got bogged down in the swamp and drowned.

In 2019, seven elephants were found dead in the same way in the north-central region of the country. A year earlier, in 2018, another seven drowned near the area where the latest deaths were recorded.

Sri Lanka's wild elephant population has dwindled to just over 7,000, according to the latest official data, compared to an estimated 12,000 at the beginning of the last century.

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