Angry Elephant Attacks Minibus

So in Sri Lanka, Elephants are protected and part of the elephant conversation effort is to hold polo competitions to raise public awareness. There are 110 elephants in captivity and 3,500 to 4,000 roaming wild in the Island, so you would think that the public would already be very aware of the animals. That might be comparable to ground hogs in Pennsylvania, except that elephants weigh 4 tons and trample people, where as ground hogs just dig holes.

Ceylon Elephant Polo Association Bowl was Sri Lanka's sixth annual elephant polo tournament, with teams coming from coutries including Spain and the United States. During the tornament, one of the elephants became angry and attacked a minibus parked nearby. The arcticle said that it is not uncommon for the elephants to get out of control, though they temporarily called off the tornament.

It seems a little strange that the Island would be trying to protect the elephant when there are so many in Sri Lanka and they cause a significant number of human deaths per year. It is stranger still that they promote their cause through a sport that emphasizes how dangerous elephants can be.

Here is the story, they even have a video:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17187537/