12 December 2020 12:00 am
By Yohan Perera
Sri Lanka has become a country where the highest number of elephants die as a result of human-elephant conflict despite spending Rs 86 million to maintain the electric fence annually, it was revealed at the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) meeting.
It has been revealed by the Wildlife officers that around 272 elephants die annually while around 407 elephants have died as a result of humanelephant conflict in 2019. It was also revealed that 122 humans have died annually. The human-elephant conflict has been existing in Sri Lanka for the last 60 years but the country has not been able to resolve the issue yet.
It was also revealed that a sum of Rs 86 million has been spent annually to maintain the electric fence while a sum of Rs 150 million has been paid for the Civil Defence Force this year. Chairman of COPA Professor Tissa Vitharana had advised to set up a committee comprising all stakeholders to resolve the issue.