Local villagers prepare to bury the body of elephant Hemantha during a religious ceremony at a Buddhist temple in Colombo March 15, 2016. Elephant Hemantha, which died from injuries to its feet, was under medical treatment for the last six months. The elephant used to march at street parades during festivals held by the temple. Elephant Hemantha died at age 23. Wild elephants have long lifespans, reaching 60–70 years of age. (Photo by Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters)

A climate activist wears an oxygen mask to demonstrate the possibility of pumping oxygen from a tree in a bottle in the future, during a protest against the government's deforestation practices of Sri Lanka's main wildlife forests for developments in Colombo, Sri Lanka on March 22, 2021. (Photo by Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters)

Demonstrators who blocked a main road with their vehicle to demand fuel near President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's residence, argue with a police officer, during the country's economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka on June 29, 2022. (Photo by Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters)

Hirunika Premachandra, a politician and a leader of Samagi Vanitha Balawegaya, a part of the main opposition party Samagi Jana Balawegaya, hugs a female police member during a protest near Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's private residence, amid the country's economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka on June 22, 2022. (Photo by Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters)

A man helps another make his way through deep mud at the site of a landslide at the Koslanda tea plantation near Haldummulla October 30, 2014. Hopes of finding survivors under the mud and rubble of a landslide in south-central Sri Lanka had run out by first light on Thursday, though a government minister cut the estimated death toll to more than 100 from 300 the previous night. (Photo by Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters)

In this July 5, 2016 photo, a tamed elephant rests in a pool of water by a road in Baduraliya, a village outside Colombo, Sri Lanka. Even as the country cracks down on illegal ownership, the enduring demand for elephants has the government planning to set up its own pool of captive animals to be hired out to temples for ceremonies and maintained with budget funds. (Photo by Eranga Jayawardena/AP Photo)

Sri Lankan participants control their bulls during a traditional cart race to mark the Sri Lanka National New Year in Homagama near Colombo on April 23, 2017. The new year marked by both the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamil population fell on April 14. (Photo by Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP Photo)

Wild elephants, including a tusker (C), rummage through garbage dumped at an open ground in the village of Digampathana in north- central Sri Lanka on August 19, 2017. Sri Lanka has banned the dumping of garbage at open fields and near wildlife reserves, but the practice continues. (Photo by Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP Photo)