Hakka Patas is an ancient way to keep animals from entering the crop fields. As men became more civilized, they started to grow their food in the crop fields. But, with this advancement came risks as well. Since animal habitat was destroyed due to organized crop fields, human homes, and industries, animals begin to wander here and there in search of food and water.
In this situation, the fields remained vulnerable to animal invasion, especially those which are close to forests. The animals in search of food and water came across the fields and destroyed them by grazing and walking over the delicate shoots. So, to keep those animals away from entering the fields, people started to set up Hakka patas traps.
These crackers explode in the mouth of animals once they chew them. As a result, the animals could not eat or drink due to deep wounds and immense pain in the mouth. Ultimately, the animals die due to hunger, thirst, and of course, intense pain. But unfortunately, this is a slow painful death.
This was also one of the main reasons behind the decline of the elephant population in Sri Lanka. Although as the awareness spread the people refrained from using such tricks to keep animals away from their fields, there are still some regions where Hakka patas is set up. But, Sri Lanka cannot afford to lose any of its elephants since they are already endangered species.
So, to rescue the elephants after they have met such an accident, the wildlife department of Sri Lanka has set up a wildlife team that is always ready to do every possible effort to save the innocent animals. Similarly in this case, as the wildlife team was informed of this elephant going through intense pain due to Hakka patas explosion in its mouth, the team arrived as soon as possible and gave treatment to the elephant.
This way, it got some energy to stay alive until its wounds would heal and later on, it can eat, drink, and continue its life normally.
