Galgamuwa is a paradise for tuskers in Sri Lanka, not only for its abundant water bodies, its rocky outcrops that elephants’ favour for breeding and its forests that shelter them by day, but also for the efforts of the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) officials who look after its elephants. Kawanthissa, Galgamuwa’s famous tusker, was described by photographers as one of the most majestic tuskers in the wild.

On the morning of Friday (18), he was found collapsed in a paddy field in Usgala Siyabalangamuwa, Galgamuwa, suffering in pain. The news broke the hearts of hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans, as no tusker that has fallen in this way has ever stood on its feet again. That evening, Dr Tharindu Wijekoon, elephant physician at the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, announced his death. Activists, photographers and villagers accused the DWC of negligence, of delay in attending to him, and of hiring a wildlife doctor with a record of failed treatments. The Daily Morning traces his life and death as a last tribute to the giant.

Who was Kawanthissa?

Kawanthissa was mainly seen in the Galgamuwa, Maho, Nikaweratiya and Eppawala areas, and in Galgamuwa during musth. Reportedly the tallest and heaviest tusker ever seen by human eyes, he is considered by villagers to be “wise” and “gentle”.

Every evening, villagers gather at Kasikote on the Anuradhapura–Colombo main road to see his “wave of gratitude” to “Kumara Uncle”, a villager who stops the vehicles for him to cross. The giant never misses the salute with his trunk.

Village folklore has it that he paid tribute to the Siyabalangamuwa tusker, allegedly killed by the DWC when the deck of the truck transporting him for treatment broke down. The day after the burial, huge footprints and the marks of two tusks 5 inches apart were seen on the soil. A photographer identified them as Kawanthissa’s; he has a habit of pressing his tusks against the earth before drinking water.

Galgamuwa lives daily with elephants that chase and kill people, even taking them from the pela at the chena, and that break down houses for stored paddy. Yet Kawanthissa hardly ever harmed a villager. Villagers say he checks even a branch he has broken for harm, such as red ants’ nests, before eating it. He often mildly breaks down elephant fences to cross roads, but has never harmed any villager or property.

He is also iconic for the two single-tusked tuskers, one tusked only on the right and the other only on the left, that majestically accompany and protect him.

The Accusations on DWC

The first accusation is that too many drugs were given to sedate the animal, causing diarrhoea. A villager who has long attended to the tusker told us, on condition of anonymity, that the treatments were done in isolation under police protection. Only the DWC-appointed doctor, Dr Isuru Hewakottage, his assistant and a photographer, Vipun Abeyrathne, were allowed in.

She said the doctor is infamous for failed treatments:

• Thekka Raja, another Galgamuwa tusker, was found dead within a month in the same place he was treated, with no follow-up.
• Bhathiya died after being given too much antibiotics.
• An elephant of around 15 years and a cub believed to be Kawanthissa’s own also died after his treatments.

“We do not know why the DWC gave Kawanthissa to a doctor with a proven failure at multiple tasks,” she said.

“We were threatened and not allowed in. The tusker was overly inactive and did not go back to his herd or the forest. He got diarrhoea and refused to eat. Kawanthissa is not a tusker that gets into the water much, but after the treatments he was in the water for days. The colour of his skin also changed. These are clearly the signs of a drug overdose,” she said.

She added the doctor, complaining the tusker was in musth, was nervous about how much to give to sedate him. Experts say an elephant’s dosage is calculated from its weight, estimated by measuring the foot, but she said no such calculation or blood test was done. Multiple attempts to contact Dr Hewakottage were futile.

The public also accuses the DWC of not attending to the animal immediately on the first message, and of waiting until the last minute to bring an expert team from Thailand.

Who else is allegedly responsible?

According to Vishwa Sachith Perera of the Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ), the Palukadawala, Nakolagane forest used to be a land of the elephants. But acres were cleared for mango plantations, claimed to be the property of the Nakolagane Rajamaha Viharaya by its chief, Walathwewa Rahula Thera. As a result, elephants including Kawanthissa wandered more into the villages in search of food. After a court decision, the Government took the forest back as a sanctuary. Elephants are gradually returning, but illegal electric fencing is still abundant. Many blame the Thera for making the elephants vulnerable. Attempts to contact him were futile.

Some have also accused photographers of exposing the giants to hunters by publicising their trails. Pathum Bandara, who photographed Kawanthissa extensively, called this a myth. He said that while tuskers like Dala Puttuwa were once killed for their tusks, attitudes have changed, and elephants are now rarely shot, and only to expel them. “What is common is deadly traps set for animals such as wild boar, which elephants accidentally set off. Actually, attention is a reason the animal gets protected,” he said. He added that the DWC attended to Kawanthissa only a day after being informed, and that too after huge pressure from multiple people.

The person who shot Kawanthissa, or who placed the deadly trap, has not been caught to date.

The Villagers

Kumari Rathnayake (47) from Galgamuwa said the loss is unbearable. “We have a saying: we need a son like a tusker, meaning a son economically strong enough to help the family out of the day-to-day struggle. We are just uneducated village women, but we know how economically valuable these animals are to the country. We loved Kawanthissa so much; he never harmed anyone,” she said.

“We feel helpless, but we have never thought of killing these giants. They are helpless in the same way we are. If they had lands to live in peacefully, they would never come into these villages and harm us,” said Karunarathne (56), a farmer of forty years. We met him leaving early for his night shift as a mango-factory security guard, to avoid meeting the thaniya. “We request the Government to protect them at all costs.”

The villagers urge the authorities to protect Galgamuwa’s other tuskers, Sumana, Bhagya, Missaka, Raghu, Mangala and Ratta, from the same destiny.

What do the officials have to say?

Right after the death, Deputy Environment Minister Anton Jayakody said Kawanthissa had a gunshot wound on his leg, treated by the DWC team. The tusker became active again and rejoined the herd, but days later suffered from diarrhoea and stopped eating. “Our vets believe that the animal has taken something poisonous; the samples have been sent to Thailand to be examined,” he said.

DWC Director General Ranjith Marasinghe said the tusker was duly treated by four teams of specialists, the best possible, and that Thai and Indian vets were to be brought in, but the animal died before that.

The Epilogue

Last tributes to the giant were paid under the patronage of Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, followed by the Panshukula on Saturday (17).

Among those present was Kumara, who had helped Kawanthissa cross the road safely almost every day. He stood to one side, still, to bid farewell to his friend.

Few appeared to notice him.

His quiet presence brought to the author’s mind the poem The Cathedral Builders, in which the builders stand aside while a bishop ceremonially opens the cathedral they built with their flesh and blood.

But Kumara did not say, “I bloody did that.”

He simply stood there, silent, as the giant he had helped protect was laid to rest.

After the last rites, the tusker’s head and tusks were separated from the body and sent to be “preserved”. A specialised veterinary panel, including University of Peradeniya officials, examined parts of the body to determine the exact cause of death from the gunshot injuries. The court directed that the carcass be buried securely on DWC land.

Photo by Pathum Bandara