23 September 2021 12:00 am
No census of elephants has been carried out while only a survey was done in 2011. As per this survey, there had been 5579 elephants in the jungles of Sri Lanka
By Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana
More than 1732 elephants have been killed as a result of the human-elephant conflict between the years 2015 to 2020, Minister of Wildlife C.B.Ratnyake told
Parliament yesterday.
Responding to an oral question raised by SJB MP Mayantha Dissanayake, the number of elephants killed in 2015 has been 202,229 in 2016, 256 in 2017,319 in 2018,407 in 2019 and 321 in 2020.
“The most effective solution for the issue is found to be erecting electric fences but other alternatives will be considered,” the Minister said.
Also he said no census of elephants has been made while only a survey was done in 2011. As per this survey, there had been 5579 elephants in jungles in Sri Lanka.
In response to a question raised by MP Dissanayake, the Minister said the Director General of National Zoological Gardens Ishini Wickremesinghe has resigned from her post on her own and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had no hand in it.