Sri Lanka at war with elephants? 176 killed by animals last year

470 elephants and 176 people died last year in Sri Lanka's undeclared conservation war. Photo / Gabor Kosman, Unsplash

Sri Lanka is at war with one of its most revered animals, after 470 elephants were killed last year. With half of these deaths at the hands of humans, rural communities say the violence is not one-sided.

Equally alarming is the fact 176 people were killed by Sri Lankan elephants in 2023. This trend has led to what conservation experts describe as a “human-elephant conflict” in a country at war with one of its national symbols.

Sri Lanka’s natural population of fewer than 4000 elephants is being eroded at a rate of more than one death a day. This is despite the animals being protected by law.

Elephants hold religious and economic value in Sri Lanka, where they feature the focus of tourism and religious festivals.

As the overlap between the large wild animals and human habitation grows, elephants have been targeted by poisons and traps. Similarly, there have been violent, unprovoked encounters with elephants raiding farms and even cars on safari. These have resulted in deaths and injury, particularly in the northeast of the island.

It’s an ugly side to the country’s conservation record that even tourists have been exposed to recently.

In December last year, a family of Australian tourists were targeted by a tusker elephant in Yala National Park.

The animals, which can weigh between 2 and 5 tonnes, pose a significant threat to humans, especially more aggressive male tusker elephants. Even a non-lethal encounter can be alarming, with the animals ambushing people for their food.

Despite it being illegal to harm elephants, methods of warding off the creatures have turned lethal. Farmers have resorted to baiting the animals using explosives called “jaw bombs” according to the BBC.

Killing an elephant in Sri Lanka is in theory punishable by death, but no prosecution has ever been carried out, according to Sri Lanka’s Daily FT. The maximum fine for killing an elephant is Rs500,000 ($2600), even in a protected wildlife reserve. Delays in prosecution and the difficulty of proving intent have meant few killings are punished.

Is more equitable wildlife tourism the answer to Sri Lanka's Elephant War? Photo / Moasharraf Hossain, Unsplash

With almost 200 people killed in elephant encounters last year, illegal killings are claimed in defence of self and property.

It has been described as a “human-elephant conflict” by the country’s academics.

Conservation worker Supun Lahiru Prakash of the Research Circle of Sri Lanka has been monitoring the escalation over the past decade.

“Globally, Sri Lanka had the highest annual elephant deaths and second highest human deaths, due to HEC (human-elephant conflict),” he said in a 2020 study.

“Conflict has greatly increased in intensity and geographic extent from that reported previously.”

Elephant deaths have risen from over 200 a year in 2010 to more than 400 in 2020. Human deaths are equally alarming.

Per capita, Sri Lanka far exceeds any other country for humans killed by elephants in Asia.

Expanding farmlands are the front line of this war, says Prithiviraj Fernando of Sri Lanka’s Centre for Conservation and Research.

Fernando headed the country’s official committee in 2020 for a National Action Plan on human-elephant conflict.

As farms encroach on elephant habitat the crops are a draw for the hungry animals. The CCR says growing casualties are lending more urgency to the conflict.

“If we don’t manage this situation properly, the end result would be that more than 70 per cent of the elephant population would be eliminated,” Fernando told the Eco-Business website.

“There will be more suffering, and there will be more people and elephants dying until this is resolved.”

Tourism is a second front for the conflict, which has further complicated the population’s relation to elephants.

In 2021, The World Bank said the elephant continued to be a net benefit to Sri Lanka.

“Currently, Sri Lanka provides the best opportunities of viewing wild Asian elephants in the world,” reads the NGO’s review of Promoting Nature-Based Tourism.

However, strict conservation laws and the lack of economic benefits seen from tourism by those most affected by elephant conflict has made it a contentious point.

Wildlife tourism is worth some $400 million to Sri Lanka annually. Whereas chena farmers see about $3200 in damages attributed to ‘elephant conflict’.

The economic argument for protecting the animals is difficult to palate.

“This friction between humans and elephants, termed human-elephant conflict, presents a development challenge between supporting the livelihoods of those living in close proximity to national parks and conserving Sri Lanka’s flagship species,” the World Bank says.