The death toll in the human-elephant conflict in Lockdown has dropped in Sri Lanka
By Sadman Sad
The death toll from human-elephant clashes in Sri Lanka has dropped due to the corona lockdown. The country’s animal conservationists are reporting this information. News AFP.
According to the Sri Lankan government, 405 elephants were killed in human attacks on the island last year. The previous year, in 2016, the number of elephants killed was 360. Last year, 121 peoples were killed by elephant attacks. Last year the figure was 97.
On World Elephant Day on Wednesday, elephant expert Jayant Jayewardene said, “Curfew or Lockdown has reduced human-elephant conflict. However, this situation is temporary. If the farmers come down to protect their crops, elephant killing will start again. ‘
In Sri Lanka, most elephants die at the hands of farmers. Elephants are shot or poisoned. Such incidents happen only when the elephants come to attack the crop. Elephants are considered sacred animals in Buddhist countries. But even then, the killing of elephants is not stopping.
Sumit Pilapitiya, an animal conservationist and former director-general of Sri Lanka’s wildlife department, said the number of elephants killed during the Lockdown had dropped by 40 percent.
Pilapitiya said an average of 240 elephants died in Sri Lanka every year from 2010 to 2016.
According to official figures, the number of elephants in the country has now dropped to 6,000. In the 1990s this number was 12 thousand.
The official Lockdown in the country began last March and ended in June. Environmentalists fear elephant poaching could resume after that. The ‘Asian Elephant’ found in Sri Lanka is an endangered specie.
Referance: GreenPage Bangladesh
