A 76-year-old watchman was killed by a wild elephant at Alahena village in the Damana police division of Ampara at about 6 o’clock on Sunday morning, as he walked home from a night shift, police say.
The dead man was K. Piyasena of Alahena, who worked as a watchman at a quarry in the area. He had just finished his shift and was on his way home when the elephant attacked, Hiru News reported. He died at the scene.
A known animal
Villagers say a lone elephant has been moving through the area for several days, and that it has also been seen around Damana, Alahena and Madawalalanda.
Wildlife officers are now working to drive the animal out. The operation is being run on the instructions of the Eastern Province Assistant Director of Wildlife, H. G. Wickramathilaka, by officers including the officer-in-charge of the Damana Wildlife Range Office, Range Guard Wasantha Dissanayake.
The pattern
The circumstances are typical of fatal encounters in Sri Lanka’s dry zone: a person on foot, alone, moving at first light or after dark, on a route that crosses ground an elephant is using. The hour matters — dawn and dusk are when elephants move and when shift workers walk.
This is the second fatal elephant attack this desk has reported in two days. A woman was killed by an elephant in Polonnaruwa in a separate incident. The two are unconnected beyond the pattern they share.
Ampara is among the districts worst affected by human-elephant conflict, and the reported presence of a single animal ranging across three named villages for days before a death is the sequence wildlife officers are generally trying to interrupt.
Not reported
The filing does not say whether the elephant had been reported to wildlife officers before Sunday, or whether any attempt had been made to drive it out earlier. It does not describe injuries, say who found the body, or state whether the quarry provides transport for workers on night shifts. It gives no account of damage to property in the three villages, and does not say whether the animal has been located. This report rests on a single source; no other verified newsroom had carried the incident at the time of writing.
