General
Sri Lanka digs moat around rubbish tip to keep hungry elephants out
Sri Lanka’s Government is digging a moat around one of its landfills to keep out hungry elephant herds and reduce conflicts between the animals and villagers.
Key points:
- Elephants commonly rummage through landfills for food scraps
- They can die after eating plastic in the dumps
- There are around 7,500 wild elephants in Sri Lanka
Dozens of elephants lumber out of the forest daily into a garbage dump near the eastern town of Ampara, rummaging through mounds of rubbish for wilted vegetable scraps.
This has become a common sight at the country’s three largest landfills, which are located next to wildlife protection zones.
The elephants consume plastic along with the food scraps, which slowly kills them, officials say.
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