Elephant goes missing at Sinharaja Forest Reserve

By Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama   
The wildlife officers attached to the Sinharaja Forest Reserve observed that one of the two elephants living in the vicinity of the forest reserve had not been seen for the past one and a half years.   

They said the two male elephants used to come out of the forest reserve when they went into musth. But within the past one and a half years, only one elephant (around 45-years-old), which has a belt around its neck, has been seen by the villagers.   
The elephants in the Sinharaja Forest Reserve go up to Deniyaya and Neluwa areas for food, and when they went into musth.   
The wildlife office officials attached to the Sinharaja forest are on the lookout for the missing elephant which is much older than the other elephant.   
Meanwhile, officers said that people had invaded the areas inhabited by elephants and used them to engage in chena cultivation, blocking the elephant paths as a result. Many water reserve areas of the forested area had been deforested for ongoing construction.