Sri Lanka, July 20 -- As human-elephant conflict continues to rise, claiming numerous elephant lives this year, a new incident has drawn attention.

An elephant, shot and critically injured, has been found in a canal bordering the Wilpattu National Park.

According to our correspondent, the injured elephant is lying in a canal adjacent to the park.

The shooting is believed to have occurred several days ago, and local residents had already alerted wildlife officials.

However, as of noon today, wildlife officials had not yet arrived to provide treatment to the elephant.

This incident comes shortly after the highly publicised death of tusker 'Bhathiya' on July 15.

Meanwhile, Minister of Environment, Dr. Dhammika Patabendi, stated that a ...