A Hindu religious festival in Sri Lanka ended in chaos after an elephant in the procession panicked, causing 13 people in the crowd to be injured as they fled, police said Sunday, July 7, 2024.
Video footage shared on social media shows one of the elephant’s carers trying to pull the agitated animal by its tail. in a desperate attempt to control it, while the devotees who filled the street rushed to escape.
Thirteen people were taken to hospital and treated for minor injuries in Kataragama, 280 km south of the capital Colombo, a police spokesman said.
What happened to the injured after the elephant incident?
A spokesman for Kataragama State Hospital said on Sunday, One day after the incident, all the injured were discharged.
Elephants are considered sacred in Sri Lanka, but laws against animal cruelty are barely enforced.
Animal rights groups are criticising the widespread use of elephants during temple ceremonies in Sri Lanka.
This is not the first time that one of these animals has gotten out of control and caused an incident during a parade, as in August 2023, when dozens of pilgrims jumped into a lake in the central city of Kandy to escape five agitated elephants.
Several people were injured and one woman was hospitalized.
Official records indicate that There are about 200 domesticated elephants in the island country, plus some 7,500 in the wild.
The government has banned the capture of wild elephants, but in recent years dozens of calves have been stolen, often after their mothers were killed by their captors.
Source: https://www.noticiascaracol.com/mundo/elefante-entro-en-panico-durante-evento-religioso-y-13-personas-resultaron-heridas-video-rg10
