Drone footage shows elephants foraging for food in Sri lanka garbage dump

Описание: Drone footage from Tuesday (November 24) shows a herd of hungry elephants digging through heaps of trash in eastern Sri Lanka, looking for something to eat.

They rummage through heaps of plastic, paper and other trash, picking out wilted bits of vegetables with their trunks. It's a common sight at the country's three largest landfills which are located next to wildlife protection zones.

This landfill in Ampara was created around a decade ago in the middle of an elephant corridor which is home to 200-300 elephants. Electric fences were put up but the elephants have made their way in and have been helping themselves to the easy food supply. The elephants have also been eating plastic along with the food scraps and this is now slowly killing them, local officials say. In 2019, 361 elephants died, a new record high.

The dump is not the only target of the hungry elephants. The villages in the area have always had an uneasy co-existence with the wild herds, but the the situation is only getting worse, local residents say

Human deaths due to elephants number between 20-80 per year.

There are currently around 7500 wild elephants on the island which has a population of about 22 million people.

Domesticated elephants are revered in the country and are used in religious and cultural events throughout the year.

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