SLA mines injure Mannar elephants

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 February 2006, 15:37 GMT]
Three wild elephants which have sustained injuries from landmines buried in Ganshapuram along Sri Lanka Government controlled Mannar-Vavuniya Road Wednesday morning have crossed over into the jungles at the Madhu side. Wild Department officials and veterinary surgeons are reported to have refused to enter the forest located in the Liberation Tigers controlled area to treat the elephants, sources said.

The injured elephants have been raising loud noise in pain the last few days, residents in the area said.

Personnel of the Special Task Force camp located near the area on hearing loud noise from these elephants immediately brought this incident to the notice of the Wild Life Department officials.

Red Cross (ICRC) representatives were also informed of the plight of the elephants. ICRC officials immediately contacted the LTTE in Killinochchi and obtained permission for a group of Wild Life Department officials with veterinary surgeons to enter the jungle to treat these animals.

However Wild Life Department officials and veterinary surgeons have now informed the ICRC and security officials that they were not in a position to enter the jungle due to security reason, sources said.