Mitigating ‘Human-elephant’ conflict Electric fence and trapping of elephants have failed: COPA report

• The report said male elephants bigger in size were responsible for causing harm to humans and crops  
• Implement the policy formulated by Dr. Prithiviraj Fernando  Only innocent female elephants and calves were being trapped by the said measure 

By Ajith Siriwardana  

The Committee on Public Accounts (COPA)has observed that the policy of constructing  electric fences and trapping elephants had been a failure.   

The COPA in its report presented to Parliament recently has recommended to the Department of Wildlife Conservation to abandon the old policy which had so far failed and to implement the policy formulated by Dr. Prithiviraj Fernando.

According to the report, the policy of constructing an electric fence and trapping elephants was a failure when in fact only innocent female elephants and baby elephants were being trapped by the said measure.

The report also said that it had been revealed that male elephants bigger in size were responsible for causing harm to humans and crops. The report states that the policy formulated by Dr. Prithiviraj Fernando over seven years with the experience received in Galigamuwa mitigated the conflict and kept the cost to a minimum.