Overview
- Police in Anuradhapura arrested three suspects aged 42, 48 and 50 on cruelty-to-animals charges after the clip spread widely online.
- A magistrate ordered the men held until December 24 while investigators continue reviewing evidence.
- Wildlife officials say the elephant was shot before being burned, with one agency report describing improvised cloth-and-fuel torches.
- Veterinary surgeons attempted treatment but were unable to save the wounded, burned animal.
- The incident refocused attention on Sri Lanka’s human–elephant conflict, with elephants legally protected, capital punishment not enforced, and reports citing about 400 elephant and 200 human deaths annually from a population of roughly 7,000 wild elephants.