World Elephant Day: 300+ elephants die each year in Sri Lanka

COLOMBO (News 1st); World Elephant Day is observed today and the elephant habitat in Sri Lanka has reduced by 15% over the last 50 years.

Every year August 12th is designated as World Elephant Day in view of the conservation of the world’s wild elephants.

Elephants are termed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

The World Elephant Day is extremely important for Sri Lanka, since there is an urgent need for a sustainable solution to the Human-Elephant conflict, which has intensified in recent years. 

According to the most recent elephant census, the population of elephants in Sri Lanka is around 6000, of which only 5 percent is estimated to be Tuskers. 

As per the data available, around 300 elephants die every year due to the Human-Elephant conflict, while over 100 human lives are also lost. 

Pruthuviraj Fernando, an expert on Elephants in Sri Lanka says that elephants too are facing a severe food crisis due to authorities not taking the necessary steps to tackle the human elephant conflict. 

On the world elephant day, we emphasize on the need to protect the wild elephant population in Sri Lanka.