COLOMBO On average one elephant has died each day in Sri Lanka in the first three months of this year, with nearly half of those deaths due to human causes. This escalation of the perennial problem of human-elephant conflict on the island has prompted calls for urgent solutions to save this endangered and iconic […]
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By Rathindra Kuruwita
Environmentalists yesterday urged the government not to waste hundreds of millions of rupees on establishing another Elephant Holding Ground (EHG) at the Lunugamvehera National Park, as the EHG in Horowpathana had turned out to be a disaster.
Supun Lahiru Prakash of the Biodiversity Conservation and Research Circle told
The Island yesterday that a recent report by the Auditor General had exposed the EHG in Horowpathana.
Prakash said: “The AG’s report points out the elephant census conducted in June 2019, which showed that out of all the elephants retained in the holding ground, 12 elephants had died, and out of that which five had been starving. Another two elephants died due to unattended translocation to the holding ground. It was observed that the health condition of the elephants retained at the holding ground were poor and no follow-up action was taken.”