Mystery surrounds the deaths of seven wild elephants in the Habarana Forest Reserve. The carcasses were discovered within the space of 24 hours. Wildlife officials suspect the elephants may have died due to poisoning. On Friday (27), four elephants were found dead in the forest reserve near Digampathana and by Saturday (28), another three carcasses were found within a radius of 4 km from the previous incident in Hiriwadunna. A team comprising wildlife rangers, veterinary officers, and army personnel were deployed to carry out further investigations in the area yesterday. Wildlife officials at the Sigiriya office, when contacted by The Sunday Morning, said that following Friday’s incident, they deployed a team and by Saturday morning, they discovered one more elephant carcass and by noon, they found two more. “We suspect that the elephants would have ingested poison, considering the number of carcasses we have discovered so far.”Regional correspondent K.K. Ariyadasa, reporting form the site, stated that a baby elephant, approximately four years of age, was keeping guard of its mother elephant who had died. “The baby elephant was seen attempting to wake the mother by butting the cow elephant’s body and head. It was not letting the veterinary surgeons approach the carcass and seems to be in disbelief that it’s’ mother would never wake up.” Since the baby elephant seemed to be hindering the postmortem activities of this single carcass, the officials had decided to administer anesthesia to the baby elephant and relocate it from the scene of death. The wildlife officials confirmed that all deceased elephants were female and were either pregnant or were mothers with young calves. Further investigations are being carried out to identify any further deaths and the veterinary team is conducting the postmortems on the deceased elephants. The officer stated that the exact cause of death was yet to be determined, and would be revealed through the autopsy reports that will be prepared after thorough examination by the team. Samples of the elephant carcasses are to be sent to the Government Analyst’s Department. Commenting on the incident, Minister of Tourism Development, Wildlife, and Christian Religious Affairs John Amaratunga stated: “We are awaiting the autopsy results of these deceased elephants. Once we have determined the cause of their deaths and if the deaths were caused by human activity, strict action would be taken against the perpetrators and they would be convicted according to the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance Article 20, and will be fined or imprisoned as per penalties stipulated in the ordinance.” By Sarah Hannan