65 elephants killed in 2021

By Ifham Nizam

The number of elephant deaths for 2021 jumped to 65 yesterday with four new deaths within 72 hours.

Scientists, elephant experts and environmental organisations insist that the government needs to put an end to rapidly increasing encroachment on forests.

The Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ) is organising a national symposium on human-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka and environmental experts Dr. Sumith Pilapitiya, Dr. Devaka Weerakoon, Dr. Prithiviraj Fernando and Dr. Depani Jayantha and Hemantha Withanage would speak at the event. They will

highlight the impact of ad hoc policies and unsystematic electric fencing.

Last week, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa insisted that a large-scale

land grab had not taken place under his administration.

“There are allegations that we are destroying the environment ,” President Rajapaksa said speaking at a Gama Samaga Pilisandarak programme on Saturday, “I was once asked to look into an issue where officials had barred people from entering lands that they had been cultivating for generations. I then provided a practical solution to it. That does not mean go and start cutting down trees in forests”.