By Rathindra Kuruwita and Ifham Nizam
An unsuccessful attempt to relocate wild elephants from areas such as Sravasthipura, Thambuttegama, Wilachchiya, Moragoda, and Thanthirimale in the Anuradhapura District to Wilpattu National Park had resulted in around 150 elephants, including females and calves, being trapped without food for over a week at the Oyamaduwa National Livestock Development Board farm, environmentalists claim.
Kelum Mahesh of Husma organisation told The Island that the elephants had been confined to the farm and prevented them from foraging at night or following their natural migratory routes.
To manage the situation, the relevant authorities must allow the elephants to leave the farm premises via their natural migratory routes, he said.
“The government should closely monitor their movements and provide compensation for any property or crop damage caused during the migration. This is a solution that both local wildlife conservation officers and residents would agree to. However, senior administrative officials have shown little interest in implementing this measure. As a result, the elephants continue to suffer from starvation and severe stress in the confined area,” he said.
Supun Lahiru Prakash of the Biodiversity Conservation and Research Circle told The Island that the periodical relocating of elephants had been unsuccessful in the past. He added that some sections of the media had created a hysteria among the people about marauding elephants and certain government officials had been overreacting.
“President Anura Kumara Dissanayake is interested in solving the human-elephant conflict in a sustainable manner. However, knee-jerk reactions are not the way to go,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hasini Harishchandra, Spokesperson for the Wildlife Department said while there were some issues with elephant relocation, they were doing their best to address the problems. “Our end goal is to relocate them in Wilpattu,” she said, denying claims that the elephants were in danger.
She added that the Air Force would provide assistance from Friday to identify where the elephants were.
