Udawalawe Thanamalwila road is a frequent route for wild elephants. People on the road not only watch the elephants approaching the electric fence at the Udawalawe National Park on one side of the road but also feed them. As a result, wild elephants that come near the road in search of food break through electric fences at night and start roaming the villages, villagers say.
Wildlife officials at the Udawalawe National Park say that feeding wild elephants is a threat to human lives as well as the lives of wild elephants. They say people who feed wild elephants are constantly being prosecuted.
Even under such circumstances, several people fed the famous elephant 'Bullet' with a pair of large tusks that had come near the electric fence in search of food on the Thanamalwila road in Udawalawe. He scolded the wild elephants for stopping feeding them and gave the elephant some cans of bananas to eat.