A Sumatran elephant, injured on a wild elephant attack during a patrol, is seen at Saree elephant training center in Aceh province on February 14, 2019. (Photo by CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN / AFP) (Photo credit should read CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN/AFP via Getty Images)
(COLOMBO) – A drunken youngster was critically injured when he attempted to play with a wild elephant that had been recuperating from gunshot wounds inside a bush land in rural Sri Lanka, Wild Life officials said on Tuesday.
The incident occurred on Monday close to the Buddhist holy city of Anuradhapura situated in the island- nation’s north-central province some 241 kilometres from the commercial capital of Colombo, they said.
The jumbo had been under treatment of Wildlife Department veterinary officials and was released to the wild recently.
The intoxicated youngster had initially crawled under the tusker’s trunk and was later encouraged to get on to his back despite warnings from onlookers when the jumbo kicked him away.
He is currently receiving care at a Government medical facility for serious fractures, they said.
Meanwhile a group of visitors froze in fright when their vehicle was confronted by a tusker in Sri Lanka’s Deep South town of Kataragama some 278 kilometres from Colombo.
The elephant thrust his huge trunk deep into the vehicle and left only after the passengers had offered it some fried potato chips.
Such human-elephant confrontations are common in this particular region as many visitors are known to offer food to wild jumbos that suddenly appear from the scrub jungle from time to time.
