Human-elephant conflict, the worst animal cruelty

Governments failed to bring effective solutions to human-elephant conflict because they did not try to treat the root cause

- By Rajasinghe Bandara

SRI Lanka records the highest number of elephant deaths in the world. The year 2023 marked one of the worst in recent memory, with 488 elephants killed and 182 human deaths reported due to the conflict. By mid-2024, another 388 elephants had already perished (Dr. Vipula Wanigasekera).

According to Wildlife Director General Ranjan Marasinghe, a total of 245 elephants had died this year due to various causes. Among them, 38 were electrocuted, while 13 were fatally struck by trains. The annual toll may exceed 500 lives of elephants by year-end.

Despite shocking revelations by the media of the alarming figures of elephant deaths and animal cruelty no Government had taken serious steps to address the human-elephant conflict. Between 2015 and 2024, over 3,484 elephants have died due to this conflict, along with 1,195 human lives lost (VOA News, 2024).

Voters in the last General election have given the biggest ever mandate to the National People’s Power (NPP) led by President Anura Kumara Disanayake to address the critical national issues. The human-elephant conflict must be among them.

Not a story about numbers

Here are some sensitive stories about human cruelty from the recent past.

On 29 May 2020, Sri Lanka lost an extremely rare Black Panther, one of the most beautiful animals in the world, after being caught in a human trap. Had the authorities including President Gotabaya Rajapaksa taken necessary precautions to protect him, the magnificent beast would have been a pride and glamour of our mother nature.