World Elephant Day Marked Here By Notching Another Grim Toll
Shakila Ifham
August 11, 2022
As we mark the World Wild Elephant Day today the Department of Wildlife says that the number of elephants that perished so far this year due to man-made activities is higher than in previous years.
The Department said it is going all out to increase electric fences in vulnerable areas to reduce the human-elephant conflict the prime cause of deaths on both sides.
August 12 every year is designated as World Wild Elephant Day in view of the conservation of the world’s wild elephants.
The World Wild Elephant Day was first named in 2012. August 12. In Thailand, a film director, William Shatner, has announced the World Wild Elephant Day, after two documentaries made about wild elephants, focusing on the issues related to Asian elephants.
Speaking to the media regarding the World Wild Elephant Day, the Minister of Wildlife and Forest Resources Conservation Mahinda Amaraweera stated that the theme of this year’s World Wild Elephant Day is Prehistoric Beauty, Theological Relevance and Environmental Importance.
He emphasized that the population of wild elephants in Sri Lanka exceeds five thousand according to the last elephant census conducted in 2011, and that every year wild elephants as well as humans die due to elephant-human conflict.
Due to human encroachment of wild elephants’ habitats, disregarding environmental assessments, elephants and subsequently humans have become displaced.
Therefore, the minister said that in the future, they will think twice when giving land for development projects and take strict decisions not to give land belonging to the habitats of wild elephants for development projects.
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