Hundreds of turtles have washed ashore after a ship caught fire and sank off the west coast of Sri Lanka in June in the country’s worst-ever marine disaster, a court in the capital Colombo has heard. A fire erupted on the Singapore-registered MV X-Press Pearl on 20 May, carrying 1,486 containers, including 25 tonnes of […]
Tag: Sri Lanka
In Sri Lanka, here be dragonflies and damselflies like nowhere else (Commentary)
A tropical continental island located close to the Indian subcontinent, endemic fauna and flora form an integral part of Sri Lanka’s rich biodiversity. The island’s biodiversity is globally recognized for both its diversity and endemism of fauna and flora, and this is true of its dragonflies and damselflies, or odonates in general. With 130 known […]
Death of a Sri Lankan icon highlights surge in elephant electrocutions
COLOMBO — He may have had short tusks, but at nearly 3 meters (10 feet) tall, Revatha was the dominant bull in his home range of Kalawewa in Sri Lanka’s North Central province. Other bull elephants that challenged him for dominance found themselves no match for his might; some even died in their ground-rumbling jousts […]
Petition: Tell Sri Lankan Officials to Protect Elephants and Their Habitats
Elephants, an endangered species, face a multitude of threats to their survival, most of which are at the hands of humans. They are trophy-hunted, pushed out of their natural habitat, poached for their ivory, neglected in zoos, exploited for various tourist attractions, and forced to perform in circuses. Now, a new threat has joined these […]
Sri Lankans save pilot whales in epic rescue after mass stranding
PANADURA, Sri Lanka — Volunteers in Sri Lanka defied the ongoing COVID-19 second wave to join a mammoth overnight rescue effort to push more than 100 stranded pilot whales back into the sea. At least five whales were reported to have died despite the efforts. The whales beached in the southwestern town of Panadura, about […]
Deaths and media-driven panic threaten human-jackal coexistence in Sri Lanka
COLOMBO — Gayan Chamila, a resident of a village near Horana in western Sri Lanka, recalled rushing to his backyard in response to hearing an animal cry. There, he found a golden jackal (Canis aureus naria) chasing his dog. The jackal then turned on Chamila, snarling. The villager managed to grab a wooden pole to […]
Thousands of elephants in Asia ‘beaten into fear and submission’ for tourists
Scrubbing behind the ears of a docile Asian elephant at a sanctuary outside of Kandy, Sri Lanka, I should have realised this wasn’t normal behaviour for a wild animal to allow me so close. At the time, back in 2009 and thousands of miles from home, it seemed harmless. I was also told the experience […]
Petition: Strengthen Animal Cruelty Laws in Sri Lanka to Protect Elephants
Have you ever scrolled through social media feed and seen a picture of someone riding an elephant, a video of an elephant painting, or some kind of post that included a wild animal in an unnatural environment? While these posts may seem cute or exciting, the reality for these wild animals tells a different story. […]