28/05/2025
Every year, 400 elephants and 100 people die on average in Sri Lanka due to the human-elephant conflict.
The elephants become victims of shootings, train accidents, poisoning, hakka patas (jaw bombs) and poaching.
Why? Because elephants have nowhere left to go.
Sri Lanka’s forest cover has crashed from 70% in the 1920s to just 16% today. Elephant paths are blocked by farms and roads. Now, 70% of elephants live outside protected areas, clashing with people to survive.
What’s making it worse:
- Electric fences built in the wrong places
- Elephant drives pushing herds into overcrowded parks
- Farmers increasing fence voltage, causing deadly shocks
- Compensation that barely covers 10% of crop losses
Elephants bring in over 60% of tourist interest, losing them could severely impact our economy. If nothing changes, wild elephants could vanish from Sri Lanka in 10–15 years.
The Society for Conservation of Wild Elephants is calling for urgent action:
- Protect and restore elephant corridors
- Fence off villages, not just parks
- Enforce laws against land grabs and poaching
- Provide fair, fast compensation for affected families
- Implement the government-approved 2020 National Action Plan to reduce elephant deaths and protect communities
We need 100,000 signatures to get the government’s attention. If the government does not take any action even after the petition, they are ready to approach international organisations like World Wildlife Fund and UNESCO to put pressure on the government and help us achieve this goal and save the elephants.
Tap the link in bio to sign the petition!
Photo credits:
Saranga De Alwis ()
Rasika Silva ()
Priyanjana Dilmith ()
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