Editorial photo #10063310 Disaster and Accident

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

Villagers are holding elephant firecrackers on May 20, 2023, in Habarana, Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan wild elephant, also known as Elephas maximus maximus by its scientific name, is reported to have over 7,000 across Sri Lanka according to the Wildlife Department. As humans have been clearing forests and building settlements, elephants have been losing their habitat and are thus used to visiting elephant villages frequently, leading to an elephant-human conflict. In the year 2022, 433 elephant deaths and 145 human deaths will have been reported due to this conflict. From January 1 to April 25, 2023, 114 elephant deaths have been reported, with 34 reported from Anuradhapura district, 29 from Polonnaruwa district, and 19 from Eastern Province. In the year 2023, 36 people will have died due to elephant-human conflict. Sri Lankans have had a long relationship with elephants, having tamed wild elephants for their 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, bringing in a lot of foreign exchange. The human-elephant conflict begins with the arrival of humans.