Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa told Parliament on Thursday that ‘Mahasen’ — believed to be the tusker with the largest tusks in Sri Lanka — has gone missing.
Premadasa said the animal had been ranging the Maradankadawala area and moving at times to Ritigala, Kantale, Kaudulla, Minneriya and Somawathiya, the Daily Mirror reported from Colombo. He said Mahasen was believed to carry larger tusks than the late tusker Kavantissa, shot dead on 16 October.
He called on the government to introduce a comprehensive programme to protect tuskers, drawing on the Civil Defence Force, the Special Task Force and the armed forces.
He named this animal three days ago
The request is not new, and that is what gives the disappearance its weight. On 19 October, Premadasa launched a conservation body in Kavantissa’s name and proposed a special protection unit for prominent tuskers, naming exactly two animals: Mahasen and Agbo. One of the two is now unaccounted for.
Earlier on Thursday, the group Wild Tuskers of Sri Lanka named 13 elephants it says need urgent protection, with Agbo among the most critical. Its list includes an animal rendered “Mahasena”. This desk cannot confirm from either filing whether that is the same tusker under a variant transliteration, and does not assume it.
What the government told the same Parliament
On the same day, Environment Minister Dr Dammika Patabendi tabled a written answer on elephant protection, in reply to a question from MP Prof L.M. Abeywickrama. It reports 5,787.89 km of electric fencing along wildlife reserve boundaries covering elephant corridors and surrounding areas, and Rs. 618.89 million spent in 2025 on construction, maintenance, equipment, personnel allowances and fuel. A Cabinet-approved 27-member committee has been appointed on the human-elephant conflict.
That answer concerns fencing and does not address Mahasen, the Opposition Leader’s demand, or any individual animal. It is cited here for the figures it supplies, not as confirmation of the disappearance.
Not reported
The Daily Mirror gives no circumstances for the disappearance: no date it was last sighted, no indication whether the Department of Wildlife Conservation is searching, and no statement on whether foul play is suspected. It does not say who established that Mahasen is missing, or on what evidence the claim about tusk size rests. No government response to Premadasa’s statement is reported.
The disappearance is single-sourced. NewsFirst and Hiru had not filed on it at the time of writing, and searches of the Island, Daily FT, EconomyNext and Colombo Gazette returned nothing. Ada Derana could not be checked — its site has returned HTTP 403 to this desk for 34 consecutive days.
