Moonlight uncovers elephants during census

By Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama

When conducting the wild elephant census across the country, the Wildlife Conservation Department has instructed its officers to do it with the aid of moonlight without flashing electronic torches.

A senior officer said flashing torches always disturb herds.

The nationwide elephant census took place from August 17 to 19, with 3,130 survey centres set up around the country.

Staff from the Wildlife Department, other government agencies, security forces, private sector employees, students, and volunteers participated in the census.

“We used to conduct the census near large reserve areas where water remains during droughts since all the elephants gather there. The census in the Damana forests was successful, but it was difficult in other areas due to rain,” he said.

The elephant census was conducted by the department after 13 years. The last elephant census was conducted in 2011, and that showed 5,879 wild elephants in Sri Lanka.

Since then, Sri Lanka has lost many elephants due to gunshot wounds, electrocution and being struck by trains. Government data show that the highest number of tuskers have been killed in the Anuradhapura District.

However, according to a post published on September 15, 2022, the official website of the Department claimed that the elephant population in the country had increased to 7,000. It has been reported that the number of tuskers in Sri Lanka has decreased. According to the website, there were only 142 tuskers within the forest in the country.