SRI LANKA: ELEPHANT POLO - An angry elephant takes to destroying a vehicle at an annual elephant polo event in Galle

Record ID: 185055

  • Title: SRI LANKA: ELEPHANT POLO - An angry elephant takes to destroying a vehicle at an annual elephant polo event in Galle
  • Date: 17th February 2007
  • Summary: MORE ELEPHANT ATTACKING MINIBUS (2 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 4th March 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Sri Lanka
  • Country: Sri Lanka
  • Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky,Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVAF0170HJYIYU7P28T3ODSH81VL
  • Story Text: A four tonne elephant threw off his mahout and American rider as the island's sixth annual elephant polo tournament got under way, rampaging off the pitch and crushing the Spanish team's minibus with his head.
    A four tonne elephant threw off his mahout along with the American rider on it, as the island's sixth annual elephant polo tournament got under way on Thursday (February 15), also destroying the Spanish team's minibus with his head.
    Spectators rushed out of the enclosure next to the remains of a historic 17th Century Dutch Fort in the southern port town of Galle as the elephant named Abey repeatedly rammed into a minibus belonging to the Spanish polo team, breaking its windows and destroying the whole structure.
    A vet brought a tranquilizer dart rifle to the scene as trainers tried to control him with sharp sticks and stones.
    Some put the loss of temper down to stress.
    "In my experience, it is not only humans who get stressed. Some elephants get stress. Stress may come from they don't know other elephants very well. When you see elephants you really don't know running in your direction may be they got little bit of stress," says visiting Thai elephant conservation expert Prasop Tipprasert.
    Elephants are revered in Sri Lanka and used for Buddhist religious ceremonies and local festivals -- the main day job for most of the polo-playing elephants chosen from among 110 domesticated animals across the island.
    The rest of the Sri Lanka's 3,500-4,000 elephants are wild, roaming in scrub jungle and wildlife parks, and officials are striving to tackle a human-elephant conflict in rural areas, where farmers shoot the animals dead to protect their crops.
    In 2006 around 150 elephants were killed and 50 humans were trampled or slammed to death as the animals strayed into villages scavenging for food, Sri Lanka's Wildlife Department says.
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