Animal Rights activists go before SC to mitigate Human Elephant Conflict

Colombo, May 23 (Daily Mirror)- Animal rights activists filed a Fundamental Rights petition before the Supreme Court challenging the failure of the authorities, including the Department of Wildlife Conservation, to mitigate the human-elephant conflict and reduce the number of elephant deaths per year. 

Justice for Animals and Nature, Ven. Dr. Omalpe Sobhitha Thera, President’s Counsel Anura Meddegoda, the Sri Bodhiraja Foundation, Animal SOS Sri Lanka, Dr. Ajantha Perera and Iranganie De Silva filed this petition through Attorney-at-Law Manjula Balasuriya. 

The petitioners are further seeking an order directing the Sri Lanka Railways to execute an action plan to reduce the number of elephant deaths caused by train accidents. 

The petitioners state that, in pursuant to inquiries, the Department of Wildlife Conservation has indicated that the elephant population in Sri Lanka is 5,879 including 55 adult tuskers as per the First Islandwide National Survey of Elephants in Sri Lanka - 2011. The petitioners further state that according to the Ministry of Agriculture, the wild elephant population of the country amounts to 7,000. However, the petitioners state that according to both the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the World Wildlife Fund, the total number of the Sri Lankan elephant population is 2,500 - 4,000 individuals. Hence, the petitioners state that the Asian elephant is classified as an Endangered (EN) species on the IUCN Red List. 

The petitioners state that habitat destruction and fragmentation through land grabbing, irregular utilization of land, acquiring of residual forests and improper town planning and construction of buildings and roads, which is more fully described hereinafter, have made wild elephants in Sri Lanka confined to small parts of the forests and jungles which has been identified as the root cause for many issues including the human elephant conflict.

The petitioners state that it has been identified that the elephants falling into trenches and agricultural wells, sustaining gunshot and hakka patas wounds, railway line accidents and electrocution, which are more fully described hereinafter, to be the most prominent causes for the death of wild elephants in terms of the human-elephant conflict and the a table demonstrate the causes of elephant deaths in 2022.

The petitioners are further seeking an order directing the authorities to implement the “National Action Plan for Human Elephant Conflict Mitigation.”