Bathiya dead before Indian veterinary experts arrived

By Nimal Jayaratne

Colombo, July 28 (Daily Mirror) - Elphant Bathiya was who suffering from gunshot injuries was dead before the Indian veterinary experts could treat him, Deputy Minister of Environment and Wildlife Anton Jayakody said yesterday.

Deputy Minister said the allegation made by opposition MPs that Bathiya has been poisoned by the Indian veterinary experts is far from being truth.

“ These MPs claimed that more than 600 wild elephants dying due to the human-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka annually is also far from being the truth. We have instructed the CID to carry out a probe on the matter because of the lies which is spread by the opposition MPs.

He said there is no planned conspiracy behind the elephants getting knocked down by the trains. It was reported that seven elephants had died after getting knocked down by trains.

However the Minister said a number of elephants had died due to gunshots and by falling into traps. “This is being done at the same time in several occasions. There is some suspicion behind these killings. Some 21 elephants are being treated for gunshot injuries. There is some suspicion about these happenings. We have received some information about these,” he further said.