Sri Lankan mahout Nishanth relaxes with a tame elephant Suddi, who was recently released from government custody following a court order, in Pannipitiya, a suburb of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, September 12, 2021. (Photo by Eranga Jayawardena/AP Photo)

Commuters interact with an elephant as he rests in a public road ahead of the annual Perahera festival of the historic Gangaramaya Temple in Colombo on February 18, 2019. Some 50 elephants, most of them from the central area of Kandy along with thousands of traditional drummers, dancers, and monks have gathered in the Sri Lankan capital to participate in the city's biggest two-day annual Buddhist Navam procession, scheduled for February 18-19. (Photo by Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Photo)

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)

This picture taken on June 3, 2023 shows wild elephants eating rubbish mixed with plastic waste at a dump in the eastern district of Ampara. (Photo by Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Photo)

A mahout walks a tusker along a busy road in Colombo, Sri Lanka on January 19, 2021. (Photo by Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters)

A fisherman waits to catch fish as he sits atop a stilt in the sea in Koggala, Sri Lanka on July 4, 2019. (Photo by Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters)

A fisherman throws his net to catch fish in a lagoon in Batticaloa November 24, 2015. (Photo by Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters)

A spot-billed pelican sits on a street light in Colombo on March 16, 2021. (Photo by Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Photo)