(LANKAPUVATH | COLOMBO) – A new policy will be formulated to address the ongoing elephant-human conflict Minister of Wildlife and Forest Resources Conservation Pavithradevi Wanniarachchi stated.
The Minister added that she hopes to address this with a program with short, medium and long-term goals.
She expressed these views yesterday(19) during a press conference themed ‘Collective Path to a Stable Country’ held at the Presidential Media Centre (PMC).
Minister Pavithradevi Wanniarachchi further commented;
Our Ministry has prioritized resolving the human-elephant conflict as soon as possible. Our aim is to provide solutions for this through short-term, medium-term and long-term plans. So far, the Ministry has conducted several workshops to provide guidance for that.
By incorporating the previous efforts carried out to manage the conflict between humans and elephants, it is required to establish a permanent strategy for this. The policy will then be turned into a law after that. We are confident that by doing this, we will be able to permanently end the conflict between humans and elephants.
80% of the land in this country is owned by the government. About 20% is owned by the public. The population of the country is growing day by day. Also, the habitats and paths of wild elephants are occupied by people for various development activities.
Some have accepted that the elephant fence is a solution to prevent wild elephants from invading villages. Given the current financial situation of the country, it will take some time to complete these activities.
It must be said here that immediately after learning that Agbo the elephant was injured, the Wildlife Department took prompt steps to provide treatment to the elephant. Even now, doctors are continuing to treat the elephant. So far, no financial or medical problems have arisen related to the treatment of the elephant. As a result, nobody should raise an issue involving the Agbo elephant. I should mention here that the government is making every effort to preserve the elephant’s life.
