- Rising death toll sparks scrutiny over policy gaps and delayed action
- Environmentalists call for better plan of action
- Prez commits more resources to address issue, allocates Rs. 10 m to research solutions
As elephant deaths soar to record-breaking levels across Sri Lanka, mounting evidence suggests that one of the nation’s most iconic species is in peril, with criticism that inaction and mismanagement may be driving the crisis toward irreversible collapse.
According to the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC), 488 elephants were killed in 2023 — the highest number ever recorded in a single year — while 187 people also lost their lives in related incidents.
Despite decades of warnings from conservationists and researchers, the Government’s response over the years appears to have done little to stem the tide of tragedy engulfing both humans and elephants.
From 2011 to mid-2025, 4,600 elephants and 1,528 people have died as a result of the escalating Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC).
A national tragedy
Sajeewa Chamikara of the Movement for Land and Agricultural Reform (MONLAR) described the situation as a tragedy of national proportions, warning that the figures for 2025 were already on track to surpass last year’s toll.
“A very serious human-elephant conflict has been created in this country,” Chamikara told The Sunday Morning. “The highest number of elephant deaths in a single year in recent history since independence was recorded in 2023. This year, those numbers will increase to a very serious level.”
The last comprehensive elephant census, conducted in 2011, recorded 5,879 elephants across the island. But with 4,600 killed since then, conservationists fear the population is declining sharply.
“There is no scientific evidence that the elephant population is increasing,” Chamikara emphasised. “Many believe the rise in sightings means there are more elephants, but in reality, habitat destruction is forcing them into villages in search of food.”
He added that poachers often targeted tuskers and strong males, leading to a skewed gender ratio and the loss of genetically important animals. “The frequent killing of tuskers has caused a severe imbalance in the population,” Chamikara said. “We are losing unique genetic traits that are vital to the species’ long-term survival.”
Historical comparisons reveal the alarming scale of the crisis. Between 1950 and 2000, 3,949 elephant deaths were recorded — an average of about 80 per year. From 2000 to mid-2025, that number has skyrocketed to 6,773, averaging around 270 deaths annually.
“This means elephant deaths have increased more than threefold compared to the pre-2000 period,” Chamikara noted. “It’s clear that something is deeply wrong with how we manage this species.”
Environmentalists point to habitat loss as the single most significant driver of the crisis. According to the 2010 forest census, Sri Lanka’s forest cover stood at 1,951,473 hectares – just 29.7% of the island’s total land area. Of this, elephants primarily occupy about 1.73 million hectares, or roughly 26.5% of the total land area. However, much of this habitat has been fragmented by deforestation, commercial agriculture, and infrastructure projects.
“Massive deforestation has taken place since 2010 to facilitate development schemes and policies influenced by international lending institutions like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund,” Chamikara explained. “These projects have divided and destroyed natural habitats, leaving elephants stranded in disconnected forest patches.”
The conversion of elephant rangelands into farmlands, the expansion of road and irrigation networks, and the establishment of large-scale plantations have all contributed to shrinking elephant territories. “When elephants lose their forests, they enter villages. When they enter villages, both elephants and humans die. It’s that simple,” he said.
Practical, data-backed solutions
As an immediate solution, MONLAR has proposed a comprehensive set of strategies based on nearly three decades of field research and policy analysis. The proposals aim to restore habitat connectivity, regulate human interventions, and create long-term coexistence mechanisms.
Among its recommendations are mapping and networking all elephant habitats across agencies, re-establishing electric fences to link rather than fragment protected areas, and strengthening these fences with natural biological barriers such as flax, lime plants, cacti, and palm trees.
It also calls for a legal framework to regulate fence installation, the construction of underpasses or tunnels along highways that cut through elephant ranges, and the removal of the 54 large-scale garbage dumps near elephant habitats that attract elephants and lead to deadly encounters.
In addition, MONLAR advocates for restricting cattle and buffalo grazing in protected forests, restoring elephants’ feeding grounds by removing invasive plants, and converting commercial forest plantations such as teak and acacia into grasslands to improve forage availability.
“These are practical, data-backed solutions,” Chamikara emphasised. “But they require strong political will and institutional coordination – two things we have rarely seen in wildlife management.”
Legal battles
Against such a backdrop, as policymakers remain divided over strategy, environmental groups have taken their battle to the judiciary.
The Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ) recently filed a Fundamental Rights petition before the Supreme Court, challenging the Government’s alleged failure to address the escalating crisis and to formally establish the long-promised Walsapugala Elephant Management Reserve. The case, scheduled to be heard on 20 November, names the Ministry of Environment and the DWC among the respondents.
The CEJ warns that a planned Government “elephant drive” from Hambantota to protected areas poses an “imminent and severe threat” to the nation’s wild elephants and fragile ecosystems. “The Government is preparing to relocate wild elephants from human settlements through a large-scale drive,” the petition states. “Such operations are scientifically and historically proven to be ineffective and inhumane.”
The CEJ argues that elephant drives cause immense suffering, including physical injuries, herd separations, psychological trauma, and, in many cases, death by starvation or exhaustion. The organisation further contends that the proposed operation violates the National Policy on Conservation and Management of Wild Elephants (2006), which explicitly discourages mass relocations and drives as a solution to HEC. The policy instead emphasises habitat conservation, community-based mitigation, and scientific management.
“The Government’s plan contradicts its own national policy,” CEJ Co-Founder Hemantha Withanage said. “Elephant drives are not only cruel but also ecologically disastrous. They simply shift the problem from one region to another, without addressing the underlying causes.”
The petition also warns that adding an estimated 100 elephants to the Walsapugala Reserve – which already sustains a stable population – would destabilise the area’s delicate ecosystem. “It would lead to overgrazing, competition for resources, and renewed conflict with nearby communities,” Withanage added.
The CEJ further accuses authorities of failing to gazette 16 identified elephant corridors, allowing illegal land clearing, unauthorised cattle grazing, and unlawful land allocations within protected areas – including in Yala, Udawalawe, and Wilpattu National Parks. These actions, the organisation says, have resulted in severe habitat fragmentation and driven elephants into agricultural lands.
Proceeding with the elephant drive while the case is before the Supreme Court, CEJ argues, would “undermine judicial authority and cause irreversible environmental damage”. The petition cites violations of Articles 12(1) and 14(1)(g) of the Constitution, which guarantee equality and the right to a fair and healthy environment.
It also highlights Sri Lanka’s international obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the guidelines of the IUCN Asian Elephant Specialist Group, which classify the Sri Lankan elephant (Elephas maximus maximus) as an endangered subspecies.
The cost of coexistence
Wildlife experts say that Sri Lanka’s worsening HEC is as much a governance failure as it is an ecological one. The DWC, chronically underfunded and understaffed, struggles to respond to field emergencies or enforce conservation laws effectively. Meanwhile, overlapping mandates among State institutions – the Forest Department, Mahaweli Authority, and Land Reform Commission – often result in conflicting land-use decisions.
“The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing,” a senior conservation official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Sunday Morning. “While one agency clears land for agriculture, another tries to protect it as an elephant habitat. The elephants are trapped between bureaucracies.”
On the other hand, for rural communities, the cost of coexistence is devastating. Farmers in districts like Anuradhapura, Monaragala, and Hambantota face nightly battles to protect their crops from elephants that wander out of fragmented forests in search of food and water.
Electric fences — many poorly constructed or illegally installed — often fail to stop elephants or end up trapping them in lethal ways. Some villagers resort to building makeshift watch huts, lighting fires, or banging metal drums through the night in desperate attempts to keep the animals away.
“I’ve lost three harvests in two years,” said farmer Karunadasa Jayasundara from Mahiyanganaya, his voice heavy with exhaustion. “We don’t want to kill elephants, but the Government must protect us too. We can’t live in fear every night.”
He said that most nights, at least one family in his village stayed awake to guard the fields while the others rested. “Sometimes we sleep in the trees, sometimes in small huts. The elephants come without warning. We shout, we throw firecrackers, but nothing stops them when they’re hungry.”
In nearby Galgamuwa, 52-year-old farmer Punchi Banda said he now spent more time repairing fences than farming. “We build fences with our own money because we can’t wait for the DWC. But elephants push them down within days,” he said. “When that happens, we lose everything — paddy, bananas, even coconut trees. Our whole year’s income is gone in one night.”
Women and children in these areas live in constant anxiety. “When the elephants come close, our children hide under the beds,” said 34-year-old mother of two, Sanduni Lokubandara from Habarana. “We can’t sleep; we can’t send the children to school safely in the early morning. It feels like living in a war zone.”
She added that while many families sympathised with the elephants, they felt abandoned by the authorities who had failed to provide lasting solutions. “We love these animals — they are part of our culture. But we are suffering too. We need help, not promises.”
Local community leaders say that economic hardship has deepened as a result of the conflict. Crop losses, damaged property, and medical expenses from elephant encounters have pushed many farming families into debt. Some villagers have begun migrating to urban areas in search of other work, leaving behind ancestral lands that have become too dangerous to cultivate.
“People talk about conservation, but who will feed our families when the fields are destroyed?” asked farmer and community representative Dissanayake from Wellawaya. “If the Government truly wants coexistence, it must secure our livelihoods as well.”
Wildlife officers working in these regions acknowledge the mounting frustration but say their capacity is limited. “We understand the people’s pain,” said a field officer from the DWC, requesting anonymity. “We have only a handful of staff to cover hundreds of villages. Sometimes we get calls in the middle of the night, but by the time we reach them, the damage is done. We need more resources, more manpower, and a long-term plan.”
For many villagers, HEC is no longer just about wildlife management; it is about survival. Without stronger intervention, they warn, desperation may soon drive communities to take matters into their own hands, risking both human and elephant lives.
Govt. plans
On Friday (7), during his Budget speech in Parliament, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake announced a series of measures aimed at reducing casualties and protecting both human and elephant populations. The President stressed that the issue had not only endangered lives but also significantly impacted rural livelihoods and the national economy.
To strengthen the DWC, the Government has approved the procurement of 294 essential vehicles and modern communication equipment to improve field operations. The DWC has long been plagued by a lack of resources, including manpower and vehicles needed for effective response and control action.
An allocation of Rs. 300 million has been made to complete the construction of electric fences in all identified high-risk areas. This funding will cover new constructions as well as the repair of existing fences that are damaged or incomplete.
Further, 5,000 Civil Security Service officers will receive specialised training and be permanently attached to the DWC to monitor elephant enclosures and mitigate conflicts. An additional Rs. 375 million has been allocated to provide these officers with food and fuel allowances for equipment maintenance.
To ensure elephants have sufficient natural resources, Rs. 80 million has been allocated for pasture development and water source management. Recognising the need for long-term strategies, President Dissanayake has proposed an additional Rs. 1,000 million for the DWC to accelerate the construction of electric fences and implement related mitigation projects.
Moreover, Rs. 10 million has been set aside for research initiatives to develop sustainable, science-based solutions beyond fencing. President Dissanayake reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to creating a balance between wildlife conservation and human safety, stressing that HEC must be resolved through a combination of infrastructure, innovation, and community engagement.
Attempts made by The Sunday Morning to contact DWC Director General Ranjan Marasinghe and Ministry of Environment Secretary K.R Uduwawala regarding the allegations made by conservationists and the Government’s plan to overhaul its approach to the issue proved futile.