Two young female elephants were found dead on an allegedly illegal electric fence in a home garden in Anuradhapura early on Tuesday, and by that evening the Department of Wildlife Conservation had arrested the owner of the land.

The carcasses were discovered in Aluthgama village by local residents, who alerted police and wildlife officials, the Daily Mirror reported at 1.28 p.m. The two animals were estimated to be between 10 and 12 years old. The Anuradhapura Wildlife Office put the deaths early on the morning of 27 October, and a post-mortem examination was scheduled for the same day.

At the time that filing was published, the farmer suspected of installing the fence had not been arrested.

The arrest came that evening

Hiru News reported at 11.46 p.m. that an arrest had been made. The man taken into custody is named in the Sinhala text as Baiyyage Gunadasa, described as the owner of the land on which the elephants are alleged to have been electrocuted. Hiru’s account says he was arrested by the Department of Wildlife Conservation on Tuesday afternoon and was due to be produced before the Medawachchiya Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, 28 October.

Hiru describes the cause as an unprotected electric wire rather than a fence as such; the Daily Mirror calls it an allegedly illegal electric fence in a home garden. The two descriptions are compatible, and both outlets place the deaths at Aluthgama.

One discrepancy, and one undercount

The two filings do not agree on the administrative locality. The Daily Mirror places Aluthgama village within the Pinagama Grama Niladhari division, under Pihimbiyagollewa Police jurisdiction. Hiru’s headline places the incident at Rambewa, and its body refers to the “Anuradhapura, Rabewa, Aluthgama” area. Both are in northern Anuradhapura District, and the Medawachchiya Magistrate’s Court serves that area, so the court named is consistent with either. The village name is the common anchor; this desk has not resolved which police division the garden falls in.

Separately, Hiru’s English URL slug refers to a single “wild elephant electrocution death”. Its own Sinhala headline reads වනඅලි දෙදෙනාට — two wild elephants — matching the Daily Mirror. The English slug undercounts the animals killed.

Context

Electrocution on unlawful fencing is among the leading recorded causes of elephant deaths in Sri Lanka. This desk reported in April that of the elephant deaths logged in 2026 to that point, 16 were from gunshot injuries, 14 from electrocution and nine from hakka patas — explosives concealed in bait. A comparable case in June killed two elephants on an illegal fence protecting cultivation at Maligawila.

Readers should note that a separate Daily Mirror filing this month covered a farmer arrested at Horowpathana over an elephant killed on a fence during drought. That is a different incident, involving one animal and a different locality, and the two should not be merged.

Not reported

Neither filing gives the result of the post-mortem, nor states what charges the suspect will face. Neither says whether the fence was drawing power from the national grid — the detail that usually determines whether a prosecution proceeds under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance, the Electricity Act, or both. Neither reports the tusk or body condition of the animals, whether the fence had been the subject of prior complaints, or whether any other person is under investigation. Hiru does not say whether the suspect was granted bail.

The arrest is carried here on Hiru’s account alone; the Daily Mirror’s filing predates it and has not been updated at the time of writing.