Overwork and exhaustion claims life of a young elephant in Sri Lanka

Pleasing tourists for a few more bucks has become a thing these days in the travel industry. In a recent incident, a teenage elephant named Kanakota died of exhaustion from continuously carrying tourists in Sri Lanka. The sad event took place in the beautiful town of Sigiriya which is renowned for its historic monuments.
As per reports, the 18 year old young elephant, after giving three consecutive rides to tourists, collapsed and never woke up again. Just a day before, he was also made to walk in a parade. After the incident, the animal welfare activists are rallying around the place seeking to take action for policy change.

The Asian elephant who died of overwork, has been carrying visitors on $30 (INR 2130) tours for the last four years. But on that fateful day, while on his third tour, the young male suddenly stopped in his tracks and just refused to move any further. His owner and tourists on his back tried to make him walk but Kanakota just laid down and never woke up again.
Soon after they realised that the creature is dead and locals started to gather around him to cover his body in blankets. A lot of witnesses called it a heartbreaking incident and scene.

Several animal rights group advocates called out to the government and said that elephant’s tragic death could have been avoided and prevented. One of the activists also said that it’s tourist’s responsibility to refuse animal rides. And until they refuse, the elephants will continue to suffer and collapse from exhaustion.