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The
amazing story of the elephant and the Lithuanian journalist
The elephant could be seen at the Green Path end of the park roaming about freely. As a small crowd watched, the elephant uprooted a lamp-post, smashed the globe atop it and waved the steel post around, advancing threateningly every few minutes. The 29-year-old jumbo known as 'Appuhamy Pattiya' was in must. It had been temporarily tethered in the park for a few weeks as in this condition where the temporal glands swell and an oily secretion flows down its cheeks from openings on them close to the eyes, an elephant has to be securely tethered as even a normally placid animal can become a killer. The mystery was how this elephant, chained on all four legs, had broken free. Chief Engineer of the Sri Jinaratana Vocational Training Institute, Lal Perera, who along with Ven. Rathanasara Thera of the Gangarama Temple and Chief Inspector Illamperuma, OIC of the Cinnamon Gardens Police Station rushed to the park after frantic telephone messages from park security staff at 1.00 a.m. had found the elephant standing over the prostrate body of a foreigner. The elephant was lifting its foot and placing it on the man's body, but did not seem to be exerting any pressure. Fearing the worst, the Thera and the Gangarama mahouts had managed to lure the elephant away from the body. The park security officers rushed in and dragged the body away, only to find the man seemingly uninjured. He was rushed to hospital by the police for a precautionary check-up. The man identified as Michal Fedosejev, is a 32-year-old journalist from Lithuania. A lover of animals, he had been visiting the elephant regularly even at night when the park was closed. He had become so attached to it that he had got himself a tiny tent so that he could camp close to the elephant whom he called his brother. Michal had subsequently been warned by the park security officers not to get close to the animal, when they had seen him petting the elephant, hugging his trunk and feeding it. On Monday night, the park security had to call the Cinnamon Gardens Police to eject him from the grounds. "They could not understand my wanting to be close to my brother, but they were very kind and nice to me and permitted me to be outside the park entrance, after advising me not to enter the park when it was closed and not to approach the dangerous animal," Michal said. Late on Wednesday night feeling sorry for the chained elephant and not understanding that it was in must, Michal managed to enter the park after midnight with a bunch of plantains which he proceeded to feed the elephant. He then loosened the chains around all four legs, not an easy task in the dark, with the intention of tying the animal up again before dawn. Michal then went to sleep in the park and the elephant after wandering around stood guard over its friend, its legs straddling his body. This was the scene that greeted those who rushed to the Park on Wednesday morning. The operation to secure the elephant began shortly after dawn with its two mahouts Galagedera Upasena and Udugama Upasena in the forefront. Helped by the other mahouts of the Gangarama Temple, the animal was finally secured to three trees after one of its hind legs was noosed first. Park security officers who had to have their wits about them to keep Michal away from the park after closing time recognized the special bond between man and elephant, and never considered Michal as a nuisance. As for the young Lithuanian, he plans to leave the country soon, but his parting words were about Appuhamy Pattiya. "Do not forget to take plantains for my brother daily. I will be back to visit him again soon" he said. |
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