O-Score proof

Sri Lanka sends soldiers to protect elephants from snares, explosive bait and illegal electric fences

10O-Score10 · Fully overlooked0 of 13 major U.S. outlets as of Nov 2 · See proof →

The math

Outlets checked: 13 major U.S. national outlets.
Confirmed reports of this story: 0.
0 found → O-Score 10 (Fully overlooked). Higher means more overlooked.

Score	Meaning	Major U.S. outlets that covered it
10	Fully overlooked ← this story	0 of 13 outlets
8	Barely covered	1 outlet
6, 5	Lightly covered	2 outlets (6) · 3 outlets (5)
4, 3	Covered	4 outlets (4) · 5 outlets (3)
2, 1, 0	Widely covered	6–7 outlets (2) · 8–10 outlets (1) · 11–13 outlets (0)

Provisional: AP, Reuters and CBS News block direct site search, and the other 10 outlets’ site search only loads in a live browser, so all 13 were checked through Google News and Bing News instead. Those checks were complete for every outlet.

Checked Nov 2, 2026, 9:50 AM ET · search window: 40 days back from the check.

Every outlet

Outlet	Result	Searches run
AP apnews.com	Not found	google-news: "Hasthi Sena site:apnews.com" bing-news: "Hasthi Sena site:apnews.com" google-news: "Sri Lanka elephants army site:apnews.com" bing-news: "Sri Lanka elephants army site:apnews.com" google-news: "Sri Lanka elephant soldiers site:apnews.com" bing-news: "Sri Lanka elephant soldiers site:apnews.com" 2 search hit(s) read and rejected as not about this story In drought-stricken Sri Lanka, farmers watch wells empty and wildlife crowd shrinking water holes - AP News In drought-stricken Sri Lanka, farmers watch wells empty and wildlife crowd shrinking water holes Own site search: HTTP 403 (could not use)
Reuters reuters.com	Not found	google-news: "Hasthi Sena site:reuters.com" bing-news: "Hasthi Sena site:reuters.com" google-news: "Sri Lanka elephants army site:reuters.com" bing-news: "Sri Lanka elephants army site:reuters.com" google-news: "Sri Lanka elephant soldiers site:reuters.com" bing-news: "Sri Lanka elephant soldiers site:reuters.com" 4 search hit(s) read and rejected as not about this story In Sri Lanka, human-elephant conflict takes deadly toll - Reuters For freed Israeli hostages, every moment is now precious - Reuters Articles sitemap of 2026-10-14 - Reuters In Sri Lanka, human-elephant conflict takes deadly toll Own site search: HTTP 401 (could not use)
The New York Times nytimes.com	Not found	google-news: "Hasthi Sena site:nytimes.com" bing-news: "Hasthi Sena site:nytimes.com" google-news: "Sri Lanka elephants army site:nytimes.com" bing-news: "Sri Lanka elephants army site:nytimes.com" google-news: "Sri Lanka elephant soldiers site:nytimes.com" bing-news: "Sri Lanka elephant soldiers site:nytimes.com" 1 search hit(s) read and rejected as not about this story Remains Found in Haiti During Hunt for Missing Salvadoran Soldiers Own site search: search page renders by JavaScript, no static results (could not use)
The Washington Post washingtonpost.com	Not found	google-news: "Hasthi Sena site:washingtonpost.com" bing-news: "Hasthi Sena site:washingtonpost.com" google-news: "Sri Lanka elephants army site:washingtonpost.com" bing-news: "Sri Lanka elephants army site:washingtonpost.com" google-news: "Sri Lanka elephant soldiers site:washingtonpost.com" bing-news: "Sri Lanka elephant soldiers site:washingtonpost.com" Own site search: search page renders by JavaScript, no static results (could not use)
The Wall Street Journal wsj.com	Not found	google-news: "Hasthi Sena site:wsj.com" bing-news: "Hasthi Sena site:wsj.com" google-news: "Sri Lanka elephants army site:wsj.com" bing-news: "Sri Lanka elephants army site:wsj.com" google-news: "Sri Lanka elephant soldiers site:wsj.com" bing-news: "Sri Lanka elephant soldiers site:wsj.com" 3 search hit(s) read and rejected as not about this story El Salvador Sends Troops to Haiti to Rescue Military Personnel After Gang Ambush The Latest Battlefield Essential for U.S. Soldiers: Smartphones What Are U.S. Soldiers Doing in Ecuador? Own site search: search page renders by JavaScript, no static results (could not use)
CNN cnn.com	Not found	google-news: "Hasthi Sena site:cnn.com" bing-news: "Hasthi Sena site:cnn.com" google-news: "Sri Lanka elephants army site:cnn.com" bing-news: "Sri Lanka elephants army site:cnn.com" google-news: "Sri Lanka elephant soldiers site:cnn.com" bing-news: "Sri Lanka elephant soldiers site:cnn.com" Own site search: search page renders by JavaScript, no static results (could not use)
Fox News foxnews.com	Not found	google-news: "Hasthi Sena site:foxnews.com" bing-news: "Hasthi Sena site:foxnews.com" google-news: "Sri Lanka elephants army site:foxnews.com" bing-news: "Sri Lanka elephants army site:foxnews.com" google-news: "Sri Lanka elephant soldiers site:foxnews.com" bing-news: "Sri Lanka elephant soldiers site:foxnews.com" 1 search hit(s) read and rejected as not about this story US soldiers can't be protected from all bioweapons, Army admits amid troubling surge in threats Own site search: search page renders by JavaScript, no static results (could not use)
NBC News nbcnews.com	Not found	google-news: "Hasthi Sena site:nbcnews.com" bing-news: "Hasthi Sena site:nbcnews.com" google-news: "Sri Lanka elephants army site:nbcnews.com" bing-news: "Sri Lanka elephants army site:nbcnews.com" google-news: "Sri Lanka elephant soldiers site:nbcnews.com" bing-news: "Sri Lanka elephant soldiers site:nbcnews.com" Own site search: search page renders by JavaScript, no static results (could not use)
CBS News cbsnews.com	Not found	google-news: "Hasthi Sena site:cbsnews.com" bing-news: "Hasthi Sena site:cbsnews.com" google-news: "Sri Lanka elephants army site:cbsnews.com" bing-news: "Sri Lanka elephants army site:cbsnews.com" google-news: "Sri Lanka elephant soldiers site:cbsnews.com" bing-news: "Sri Lanka elephant soldiers site:cbsnews.com" Own site search: HTTP 406 (could not use)
ABC News abcnews.go.com	Not found	google-news: "Hasthi Sena site:abcnews.go.com" bing-news: "Hasthi Sena site:abcnews.go.com" google-news: "Sri Lanka elephants army site:abcnews.go.com" bing-news: "Sri Lanka elephants army site:abcnews.go.com" google-news: "Sri Lanka elephant soldiers site:abcnews.go.com" bing-news: "Sri Lanka elephant soldiers site:abcnews.go.com" Own site search: search page renders by JavaScript, no static results (could not use)
NPR npr.org	Not found	google-news: "Hasthi Sena site:npr.org" bing-news: "Hasthi Sena site:npr.org" google-news: "Sri Lanka elephants army site:npr.org" bing-news: "Sri Lanka elephants army site:npr.org" google-news: "Sri Lanka elephant soldiers site:npr.org" bing-news: "Sri Lanka elephant soldiers site:npr.org" Own site search: search page renders by JavaScript, no static results (could not use)
USA Today usatoday.com	Not found	google-news: "Hasthi Sena site:usatoday.com" bing-news: "Hasthi Sena site:usatoday.com" google-news: "Sri Lanka elephants army site:usatoday.com" bing-news: "Sri Lanka elephants army site:usatoday.com" google-news: "Sri Lanka elephant soldiers site:usatoday.com" bing-news: "Sri Lanka elephant soldiers site:usatoday.com" Own site search: search page renders by JavaScript, no static results (could not use)
Bloomberg bloomberg.com	Not found	google-news: "Hasthi Sena site:bloomberg.com" bing-news: "Hasthi Sena site:bloomberg.com" google-news: "Sri Lanka elephants army site:bloomberg.com" bing-news: "Sri Lanka elephants army site:bloomberg.com" google-news: "Sri Lanka elephant soldiers site:bloomberg.com" bing-news: "Sri Lanka elephant soldiers site:bloomberg.com" 1 search hit(s) read and rejected as not about this story Sri Taylor Own site search: search page renders by JavaScript, no static results (could not use)

Related coverage, not counted

Reuters: In Sri Lanka, human-elephant conflict takes deadly toll (2026-10-13). Reuters special report on the human-elephant conflict, published about three weeks before the Hasthi Sena operation launched on Nov 2. It does not mention the operation. Not counted. Link found through Google News (Reuters, Oct 13). Reuters.com blocked us from opening it directly (HTTP 401), so we read the full Reuters text in the syndicated copy on Yahoo News (bylined Reuters, Oct 15): https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/sri-lanka-human-elephant-conflict-230534244.html. It does not mention Hasthi Sena or the army operation. Snapshot saved.

Search terms

“Hasthi Sena”, “Sri Lanka elephants army”, “Sri Lanka elephant soldiers”

Method

google-news site: (3 term variants)
bing-news site: (3 term variants)
open web search for wire copies (AP/Reuters on other sites)
editor read of every candidate headline; related items opened

A match counts only if the outlet’s own article is about this story, not a passing mention. “Not found” means not found by these methods; search engines index only part of each site. Scores are rechecked at 24 hours, 3 days, 7 days and 30 days.