Are the Jury and the Executioner the Same in Seeppukulama, Mihintale? Outrage as Elephant Killed in Brutal Attack
By: Isuru Parakrama
December 17, Colombo (LNW): Graphic footage circulating online since yesterday (16) has sparked widespread anger after showing a badly injured elephant being deliberately set alight in a residential garden in the Seeppukulama area of Mihintale.
Wildlife and forest officials confirmed that the animal died following the incident, which took place on Tuesday. The video depicts the elephant lying helpless with a severe injury to its front leg, believed to have been caused by a gunshot, before being subjected to further cruelty when it was set on fire.
Emergency veterinary teams were dispatched as soon as authorities were alerted, but the elephant had already suffered fatal burn injuries by the time they reached the location. Officials said a post-mortem examination will be conducted to formally determine the precise cause of death.
Residents in the area reportedly witnessed the incident and recorded the footage, which was later shared online, prompting immediate complaints to relevant authorities.
Investigations have now been launched, and law enforcement agencies have assured that those responsible for the act will be traced and arrested without delay.
Jury and Executioner the same?
What happened in Seeppukulama, Mihintale, is not merely a crime against wildlife, it is a chilling indictment of a society that allowed cruelty to masquerade as justice. A wild elephant—already helpless from a gunshot wound to its forelimb—was not shown mercy, restraint, or even basic humanity. Instead, it was set on fire with burning torches, in what can only be described as a barbaric public execution.
This was not an act of fear or self-defense. The animal lay immobilised in a home garden, wounded and vulnerable. Wildlife veterinary surgeons arrived and attempted to save its life, but the burns inflicted by human hands were too severe. The elephant did not die by accident, for it was killed deliberately, painfully, and with apparent indifference to suffering.
The most disturbing question is this: who decided that this animal deserved such a fate?
In Seeppukulama, did the perpetrators appoint themselves as judge, jury, and executioner? Since when did mob cruelty replace the rule of law? Sri Lanka has laws to protect wildlife, institutions mandated to respond to conflict, and officers trained to handle such situations. Yet some chose fire over reason, violence over restraint, and spectacle over compassion.
The circulation of the video on social media adds another layer of shame. This was not only an act of extreme cruelty but one committed without fear of consequence, as if the perpetrators believed they would never be held accountable. That confidence is itself a damning reflection of how weakly justice is sometimes enforced.
This elephant’s death must not be reduced to another statistic or forgotten after a brief wave of outrage. Those responsible for shooting the animal, and those who later set it on fire, committed a heinous crime that demands swift identification, arrest, and punishment under the full force of the law. Anything less would signal that brutality is tolerated, and that the powerless—human or animal—can be destroyed without consequence.
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