At the dawn of the New Year, the Centre for Environmental And Nature Studies (CENS) representative Dimuthu Sandaruwan Senadheera stated ‘when looking at elephant deaths since independence, the most number of elephant deaths are recorded in 2023’.
The representative spoke of ‘474 elephants [having] died in 2023’ in comparison to 375 elephants and tuskers in 2021. In the same year, 142 humans had lost their lives to human-elephant conflicts.
In 2022, the recorded amount of elephant deaths was 439 with ‘145 people [having] lost their lives.’
Dimuthu Senadheera also stated that ‘in the second quarter of 2023, 74 elephants have died and there is no mention of those 74 elephant deaths’ and that there is no mention either of how those elephants died. He maintained that 49 ‘were from gun shots’ and 36 were from electrocution.
He also criticised how lacklustre the effects of the government were in stopping these conflicts. ‘What the political leadership and other authorities do’ said Dimuthu Senadheera ‘is corralling elephants to one area and erecting an elephant fence. But they have been unable to provide any other solution beyond that.’ He added ‘Although it is difficult to find a permanent solution to the elephant-human conflict, there needs to be a permanent solution to end the elephant-human conflict and protect the elephant population.’
