In a heart-wrenching incident, the corpse of a wild elephant was discovered in Habarana forest reserve in the Anuradhapura District of Sri Lanka on June 16. <br /><br />The elephant is believed to be a victim of Hakka Patta, an explosive-laden food fed to elephants<br /><br />Distressing footage shows the fly-infested corpse of the 10-year-old elephant lying in the middle of the forest. Forest officials can also be seen inspecting the mouth of the elephant.<br /><br />Hakka Pata is a mixture of explosives usually hidden in vegetables and blows-up in the animal’s mouth upon consumption, leading to a slow and painful death.<br /><br />According to local reports, the elephant corpse was discovered by a traveller who alerted forest department officials.<br /><br />According to the officials, the elephant died of injuries sustained because of the Hakka Pata.<br /><br />The tusks were also reportedly torn apart by the poachers.<br /><br />A post mortem examination of the dead elephant was carried out by the Veterinary Surgeon of Anuradhapura Chandana Jayasinghe.<br /><br />Although the island is home to fewer than 6,000 Sri Lankan elephants, a subspecies of the Asian elephant, the loss of their habitats, and the expansion of human settlements have intensified human-elephant conflicts.
