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Elephant steals tourist's mango-filled purse

By Ben Hooper
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Jan. 3 (UPI) -- A visitor to an elephant rescue in Sri Lanka captured video of the moment a hungry elephant stole a tourist's purse to feast on mangos.

The video shows a teenage tourist meeting one of the young pachyderms at the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage.

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The girl said she thought the elephant was trying to be affectionate when it used its trunk to grab her purse.

"I thought he was giving me a hug so I stood there for a second with his trunk across my body," the tourist wrote. "He snatches my purse and I think that I can pull it back but instead I get swung from side to side."

The footage shows the elephant win the tug-of-war for the purse, but the teen was able to make sure her phone was out of the bag before letting it go.

"I got my purse back from one of the staff members," she wrote. "I was not harmed at all and the elephant had no intentions of being violent."

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