Editorial photo #10063286 Disaster and Accident

Sri Lanka Is The Country With The Highest Number Of Elephant Deaths In The World

Wildlife doctors are using gloves and face masks while performing a postmortem on an elephant in Habarana, Sri Lanka on May 20, 2023. The Sri Lankan wild elephant, scientifically known as Elephas maximus maximus, is reported to have over 7,000 individuals across the country. Due to humans clearing forests and building settlements, elephants have lost their habitats and are now used to visiting elephant villages frequently, resulting in an elephant-human conflict. In 2022, 433 elephant deaths and 145 human deaths were reported due to this conflict, and from January 1 to April 25, 2023, 114 elephant deaths have been reported. According to the Wildlife Department, 34 elephant deaths have been reported from Anuradhapura district, 29 from Polonnaruwa district, and 19 from Eastern Province so far in 2023. In the same year, 36 people have died due to elephant-human conflict. Sri Lankans have had a long relationship with elephants, using them for cultural and religious activities since ancient times. Elephants have been used by man since the days of the kings of Sri Lanka, through the Portuguese and Dutch eras, and since then to the present day. Even today, these wild and domesticated elephants are useful for the development of Sri Lanka's tourism industry, as a large number of tourists come to Sri Lanka to see them and the country receives a lot of foreign exchange from their visits to the parks in different provinces.