• We don’t need any foreign assistance to treat the animal”

By Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana  

With regard to the elephant Agbo which had caught the attention of many lately, the Minister of Wildlife Pavithra Wanniarachchi yesterday told Parliament that the animal is getting weaker.  
“We are doing our best to cure the elephant who is suffering from gunshot injuries. An advance of Rs. 50,000 has been given to the veterinary specialist who is treating the animal.  

We are also geared to allocate more funds to spend for the animal,” the Minister said.   
“We don’t need any foreign assistance to treat the animal,” she added.  

Also she said there is a suspicion that certain groups are carrying out a scam over social media collecting funds for the animal. No programme has been launched by the government to collect funds for Agbo,” she also said.