Human-elephant conflict: Increase in death toll expected (Sri Lanka)
Ifham Nizam, The Island
August 15, 2022
The government is planning to go for a complete installation of electric
fences, to ward off wild elements in all the districts next year,
particularly with a focus on eight districts, the Department of Wildlife
Conservation said.A senior official of the Department told The Island that
they feared the human-elephant conflict would take a turn for the worse,
during the current year. “Death rates are more than 100, with available
statistics, and it could increase further.”
During the first four months of 2022, 47 elephant deaths and 34 human
deaths were reported. Of these wild elephant deaths, 13 were shot, 17
electrocuted, 19 killed with the help of improvised explosive devices. The
human-elephant conflict has intensified during the past three years. About
407 elephant deaths and 122 human deaths were reported in 2019, 328
elephant deaths and 112 human deaths in 2020, 375 elephant deaths and 142
human deaths in 2021..
A discussion on the prevention of elephant-human conflicts, in the
Hambantota district, was held on Saturday (13) at the Lunugamwehera
Wildlife Office. Wildlife officers and others participated in this event.It
was revealed here that the elephant-human conflict existed in 131 regional
secretariat jurisdictions, in 19 districts, in eight provinces of Sri Lanka.
Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said that necessary equipment for the
construction of electric elephant fences, to cover all areas where wild
elephants are threatened in the Hambantota district, had been available in
the Lunugamwehera Wildlife Office for some time. However, it was revealed
that the construction of the electric fence remains a problem due to
farmers’ protests.
The officials said that equipment brought to set up electric fences, by
Wildlife offices, countrywide, had not been properly utilized.Therefore, as
a step to end the human-elephant conflict,within the next year, the
Minister told the Wildlife and Forest Resources Conservation Secretary
Chandra Herath a consensus had to be reached among all stakeholders for the
project to be a success.
https://island.lk/human-elephant-conflict-increase-in-death-toll-expected/