• 40 elephants died during the first five months this year

By K.G.Karunaratne 

Wildlife Conservators are concerned about the alarming rate of wild elephant deaths in the Polonnaruwa wildlife zone. They said 40 wild elephants had died in the human-elephant conflict during the first five months of the year.  

 They pointed out it was an alarming increase when compared to the previous years. Wildlife Conservators said ten people had been killed by wild elephants in the five months of the year. 

According to the statistics in the Wildlife Conservation Department, most of the deaths of wild elephants were due to illegal human activities or accidents. Several wild elephants had died in the explosion of locally made explosive device of Hakka Patas, shooting and accidents.