Baby Elephant Tries To Wake His Dead Mum In Tragic Footage

The tragic moment a baby elephant tries to wake up its mother who was suspected to have been poisoned by angry villagers has been caught on film.

Footage shows a young elephant standing over its mother and prodding her as she lays dead on the floor.

As many as seven other elephants were thought to have been killed by Sri Lankan farmers for raiding local farms, according to authorities as well as wildlife activists.

Four more of the beautiful beasts were found dead in a UNESCO-protected heritage site forest near Sigiriyaat on 27th September, and a further three on 28th September.

According to officials, a pregnant female was among the dead carcasses found.

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Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera stated to media: "We have found the remains of seven cow elephants, including a tusker, since Friday."

According to Sri Lankan police, a series of incidents involving wild elephants storming villages and destroying crops in the area may have triggered the killings.

Wildlife experts are set to carry out autopsies on the dead animals to see if they were poisoned.

"We suspect that the animals have been poisoned. We are conducting post-mortem examinations to establish the cause of their death," said Chandana Sooriyabandara, Director General of the Wildlife Department.

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Jayantha Jayawardena, managing trustee of the Biodiversity and Elephant Conservation Trust told The Hindu: "Elephants generally walk about 12 miles a night to find food on the way.

"Now, when they find paths blocked by these houses, they break in and then stumble upon crops. It is like a buffet for them."

Mr. Jayawardena - who has been studying Asian elephants for 40 years - added: "No villager would like to see an elephant killed, but when the animal damages their crops, they are affected badly. They lose their entire income, what can they do?

"The government has to engage with the villagers, and relocate them in areas that are better, and provide them suitable housing and livelihoods. Otherwise this human-elephant conflict will just carry on."

Currently, Sri Lanka has an elephant population of nearly 5,500.

Topics: Life, elephants, Real Life

Ciara Sheppard

Ciara is a freelance journalist working for Tyla. After graduating from the University of Sussex, Ciara worked as a writer at GLAMOUR Magazine and later as the Assistant Editor of Yahoo Style UK.

@ciarasheppard