Anurandhapura Elephant Capture and Translocation

This SavingGanesh.org film is about a wild elephant that found itself trapped within the confines of the sacred ancient city of Anuradhapura. He became spooked as police honked horns at him, agitating and confusing him. He encountered unsuspecting bicyclists and trampled them. Department of Wildlife rangers located and dart-tranquilized him, but unfortunately he swam across a ranging river and hid in the jungle. The rangers had to locate him swiftly, as nightfall approached. Along with other mishaps, there's always a concern that a tranquilized elephant could fall on his trunk and suffocate. The rangers located him - tied his legs and brought him back to consciousness. The rangers then had to figure out how to bring him back to the other side of the river where there was road access. Coaxing a tied up elephant across a raging river had never been done before. Veterinarian Chandana leads the team of 30, as the elephant is safely tugged across the river and loaded into a truck. He's then relocated far from civilization, being released into a national park. Unfortunately 80 percent of the translocated elephants will attempt to return home, and will die trying.

Many of our recent posts have discussed the problems with translocating elephants, to learn more, please see: https://www.elephantsnow.org/blogs1/2020/12/5/drunk-farmers-are-leading-cause-of-human-death-by-sri-lankan-elephants?fbclid=IwAR2l1uCsNrhHD_Y_r1S4v7YGpQh-tgmT0ieiMSMMKMXEqDvVVv1yYoink10 and https://www.elephantsnow.org/blogs1/2020/12/2/sri-lanka-rangers-and-veterinarian-crews-are-heroes-without-praise ).