Noble beasts reduced to rubbish tip scavengers
Elephants eating landfill waste
A HERD of elephants pick through a stinking landfill, hunting for human leftovers when they should be in the forest, foraging for grasses, leaves, shoots, barks, fruits, nuts and seeds.
The sickening image shows the animals eating from piles of waste, amid plastic packaging and carrier bags, in Oluvil, on the east of Sri Lanka.
The shot by Tharmaplan Tilaxan has won first prize in this year’s Royal Society of Biology photography competition.
The landfill site is close to a forest, which is a protected site due to the elephant population.
Tharmaplan, based in Jaffna in the northern province, said: “In the eastern province, a herd of wild elephants have picked up a peculiar – and sad – habit.
Since of late, these elephants have been seen foraging for food in garbage dumps.
“The herd of wild elephants, numbering about 25 to 30, now accustomed to feeding so close to human habitat have also begun to invade nearby paddy fields and villages seeking more food, adding more tension to the already fraught relationship between the villagers and the wild animals.”
He said a number of postmortems had revealed plastic products in the elephants’ stomach contents as a result of their scavenging on the dump.
It is understood the authorities have been in discussions to prevent dumping at the site or to look at erecting a fence.
But Tharmaplan said “no action has yet been taken”. Last month, Sri Lanka sent back to Britain 21 containers holding up to 260 tonnes of waste taken to the island in violation of i n ternational laws governing the shipping of hazardous material.
The containers were supposed to be carrying used mattresses, carpets and rugs, but customs officials have said additional hospital waste was also in among the shipment.
Previous illegal ly imported shipments have included rags, bandages and even body parts.
A further 242 containers sent from Britain are said to be holding illegal waste material that is in violation of international law.
The containers arrived between 2017 and 2018 and remain abandoned at the main port in Colombo and at a free trade zone outside the city.
The government of Sri Lanka is currently engaged in legal action over the shipment as it seeks to remove the containers from the country.
The herd have also begun to invade the nearby paddy fields
The Environment Agency said it had asked for more information from the Sri Lankan authorities to allow it to open a formal investigation.
THARMAPLAN TILAXAN PHOTOGRAPHER