Orphaned elephants return to the wild
Authorities returned six orphaned and injured elephants to the wild after nursing them back to health under a long-running conservation project, officials said.
Two females and four males, aged between five and seven, were released into the Mau Ara forest within the Udawalawe Wildlife Sanctuary, environment minister Dammika Patabendi said.
He said it was the 26th such release of rehabilitated elephants since the Udawalawe Elephant Transit Home began its programme in 1998.
'We hope, in the interest of conserving elephants, we will be able to improve facilities at this transit home in the near future,' Patabendi said.
The calves were transported in trucks and then allowed to walk free because they were deemed strong enough to fend for themselves or join wild herds.
Baby elephants have minimal contact with humans at the transit home to ease their integration into wild herds.
All elephants at the facility were rescued after being found abandoned, injured or separated from their herds.
Sri Lankan authorities believe the transit home's strategy of rewilding rescued elephants, rather than domesticating them, has paid off.
The centre's director, Malaka Abeywardana, said 57 elephants remain at the facility, which has released 187 back into the wild since the first release in early 1998.
Sri Lanka had previously sent rescued calves to the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, which has also become a popular tourist site. — AFP
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Straits Times
an hour ago
- New Straits Times
Bangladesh fighter jet crashes into school, killing at least 19
DHAKA: A Bangladeshi training fighter jet crashed into a school in the capital Dhaka on Monday, killing at least 19 people and injuring dozens more in the country's deadliest aviation accident in decades. An AFP photographer at the scene saw fire and rescue officials taking away the injured students on stretchers, while military personnel helped clear the wreckage. A military statement said 19 people were killed, including the pilot, and 20 others were critically wounded. At least 51 people, mostly students, were undergoing treatment at Dhaka's National Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute, its director Mohammad Nasir Uddin told AFP. The Chinese-made F-7 BJI aircraft crashed moments after students were let out of class at 1pm (0700 GMT) at the Milestone School and College. A witness said he heard a huge blast that felt like an earthquake. "We have two playgrounds, one for the senior students and one for the juniors," said Shafiur Rahman Shafi, 18, who is enrolled at the school. "We were on the playground for the seniors. There were two fighter planes... Suddenly one of the two planes crashed here (in the junior playground)," he told AFP. "It created a boom, and it felt like a quake. Then it caught fire, and the army reached the spot later." The interim government of Muhammad Yunus announced a day of national mourning on Tuesday. Grieving parents and relatives of the victims thronged the National Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute. Tofazzal Hossain, 30, broke down in tears on learning that his young cousin had been killed. "We frantically searched for my cousin in different hospitals," Hossain told AFP. "He was an eighth grader at the school. Finally, we found his body." Yunus expressed "deep grief and sorrow" over the incident in a post on X. "The loss suffered by the Air Force, the students, parents, teachers, and staff of Milestone School and College, as well as others affected by this accident, is irreparable," he said. "This is a moment of profound pain for the nation." The crash was the worst aviation accident in the country in several decades. The deadliest ever disaster happened in 1984 when a plane flying from Chattogram to Dhaka crashed, killing all 49 on board.
Herald Malaysia
9 hours ago
- Herald Malaysia
Catholic student wounded in Israeli strike: "Love is stronger than war"
Suhail Abo Dawood, a young Catholic student from Gaza seriously wounded in the Israeli attack on the Holy Family parish on July 17, Thursday, tells that his condition is improving. Love", says the young man, who writes a column for the Holy See's newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, "is stronger than war". Jul 21, 2025 The Holy Family Catholic parish in Gaza (AFP or licensors) By Roberto Cetera - Ashdod Suhail greets us with a broad smile and much surprise, although Fr Romanelli in Gaza had already warned his mother Randa that we were coming. "We had said many times in these months that we would soon meet in Rome or in Gaza, when peace comes. But I never thought we would finally meet in this hospital in Ashdot, Israel." The young student from Gaza, who was seriously wounded in the Israeli attack on the Holy Family parish on Thursday morning, had been transported to the Israeli hospital that night, as it was impossible to give him proper care inside the Strip. His face is in pain but full of hope. His condition has improved after all the shrapnel that had wounded him, including damaging his internal organs, was removed. "Peace will return to Gaza. Because, as I wrote in my last article you published: Love is stronger than war", he says. With some difficulty, we manage to weave a conversation in which he also speaks about his future hopes, his desires, the articles he has in mind for the future, and above all the journey of faith he has undertaken and the discernment he is making - and which we will publish in Monday's edition of L'Osservatore Romano .--Vatican News
New Straits Times
10 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Indonesia ferry fire kills three, more than 500 rescued
AFP JAKARTA: Three people died and more than 500 others were rescued after a ferry caught fire off the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, emergency officials said Monday. Passengers jumped overboard with lifejackets after the fire broke out on Sunday at the stern of the KM Barcelona 5, as it sailed to Manado, according to the Indonesian coast guard. A video released by the Manado rescue agency showed a coast guard vessel spraying water on the ferry, which was emitting black smoke. Indonesian authorities previously reported five people died in the accident, but later revised the death toll to three. "Until now, the joint rescue team is still conducting the search and rescue operation because the data is still developing," Manado rescue agency head George Leo Mercy Randang told AFP on Monday. "Our post is still open 24 hours a day, in case families want to report about their missing relative." At least 568 people were rescued from the ferry and water while three others were found dead, the national search and rescue agency said in a statement Monday. The ferry's log had only registered 280 passengers and 15 crew on board. Local media reported that the ship had a capacity for 600 people. Marine accidents are a regular occurrence in the Southeast Asian archipelago of around 17,000 islands, in part due to lax safety standards or bad weather. Sunday's fire came just weeks after another ferry sank off the popular resort island of Bali due to bad weather, killing at least 19 people. In March, a boat carrying 16 people capsized in rough waters off Bali, killing an Australian woman and injuring at least one other person.
