Noble Beasts Reduced To Rubbish Tip Scavengers

Elephants eating landfill waste

A herd of elephants pick through a stinking landfill, hunting for human leftovers when they should be in the forest, foraging for grasses, leaves, shoots, barks, fruits, nuts and seeds.

The sickening image shows the animals eating from piles of waste, amid plastic packaging and carrier bags, in Oluvil, on the east of Sri Lanka.

The shot by Tharmaplan Tilaxan has won first prize in this year’s Royal Society of Biology photography competition.

The landfill site is close to a forest, which is a protected site due to the elephant population.