A photograph has been awarded the top prize in the Royal Society of Biology’s photography competition. The photo won the top prize of this year’s competition which was themed – ‘Our Changing World’ The photograph shows a herd of hungry elephants scavenging for food in a massive garbage dump in Sri Lanka. The heart-wrenching photograph was taken by Tilaxan Tharmapalan at a plastic refuse facility in Oluvil.
The massive dump has mounds of rubbish has encroached into the herd’s natural habitat in the jungles of the eastern province. As the dump is increasing every day, the heap of garbage has now spread closer to the forest and attracted elephants, who go around looking for food.
“One garbage dump – situated near an area near known as ‘Ashraf Nagar’ close to the forest bordering the Oluvil-Pallakadu area in the Ampara district – is considered the cause of this new, destructive and unhealthy habit,” Tilaxan wrote in his blog. “The herd of wild elephants – numbering about 25-30 – now accustomed to feeding so close to human habitat have also begun to invade nearby paddy fields and villages seeking more food adding more tension to the already fraught relationship between the villagers and the wild animals,” he said.
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