News

Human-elephant conflict: Increase in death toll expected

Published

4 years ago

2022/08/15

By Ifham Nizam

The government is planning to go for a complete installation of electric fences, to ward off wild elements in all the districts next year, particularly with a focus on eight districts, the Department of Wildlife Conservation said.A senior official of the Department told The Island that they feared the human-elephant conflict would take a turn for the worse, during the current year. “Death rates are more than 100, with available statistics, and it could increase further.”

During the first four months of 2022, 47 elephant deaths and 34 human deaths were reported. Of these wild elephant deaths, 13 were shot, 17 electrocuted, 19 killed with the help of improvised explosive devices. The human-elephant conflict has intensified during the past three years. About 407 elephant deaths and 122 human deaths were reported in 2019, 328 elephant deaths and 112 human deaths in 2020, 375 elephant deaths and 142 human deaths in 2021..

A discussion on the prevention of elephant-human conflicts, in the Hambantota district, was held on Saturday (13) at the Lunugamwehera Wildlife Office. Wildlife officers and others participated in this event.It was revealed here that the elephant-human conflict existed in 131 regional secretariat jurisdictions, in 19 districts, in eight provinces of Sri Lanka.

Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said that necessary equipment for the construction of electric elephant fences, to cover all areas where wild elephants are threatened in the Hambantota district, had been available in the Lunugamwehera Wildlife Office for some time. However, it was revealed that the construction of the electric fence remains a problem due to farmers’ protests.

The officials said that equipment brought to set up electric fences, by Wildlife offices, countrywide, had not been properly utilized.Therefore, as a step to end the human-elephant conflict,within the next year, the Minister told the Wildlife and Forest Resources Conservation Secretary Chandra Herath a consensus had to be reached among all stakeholders for the project to be a success.

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News

Animal Welfare Draft Bill to be Gazetted

Published

31 mins ago

2026/06/24

Priyan

A specialists committee has been appointed by the Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation adhering to the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers dated 29.12.2025 for submitting appropriate recommendations analyzing the provisions of the draft bill formulation in regard to Animal Welfare.

Based on the recommendations of the said Committee, the Legal Draftsman has been instructed at the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers held on 18.05.2026 to prepare the final bill on the animal welfare.

Wherefore, the Legal Draftsman has formulated the draft bill and the clearance of the Attorney General has been received in the connection.

Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the resolution furnished by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation to publish the said draft bill in the
Government Gazette Notification and subsequently forward the same to the Parliament for its concurrence.

News

Legal provisions on marking voters using indelible ink during elections removed

Published

38 mins ago

2026/06/24

Priyan

Under the legal provisions for elections in this country since 2004, it is mandatory for voters who come to mark their votes to verify their identity through a valid identity card, and it is also mandatory for all such voters to be marked with an appropriate mark using indelible ink. The dual purpose of these two functions is to prevent a voter from voting more than once in a single election.

It has been observed that having to follow two different
methods at the same time to achieve the same objective hinders the efficiency of the duties performed at the polling stations and also incurs additional costs to the government.

Therefore, it has been deemed appropriate to remove the legal provisions regarding the use of indelible ink and marking the voter with the appropriate mark from all election acts.

Accordingly, the development activities of the province, as well as national security, will benefit. Therefore, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the
President to take necessary steps to remove the legal provisions

• Section 36 of the presidential Election Act, No 15 of 1981
• Section 38 of the Parliamentary Election Act, No 01 of 1981
• Section 36 of the Provincial Council Election Act, No 02 of 1988
• Section 53 A of the Local Government Elections Ordinance (262 Authority)
• Section 21 of the Referendum Act No 7 of 1981

News

Showers will occur in the Western, Sabaragamuwa and North-western provinces and in Galle, Matara, Kandy and Nuwara-Eliya districts

Published

1 hour ago

2026/06/24

Priyan

WEATHER FORECAST FOR 24 JUNE 2026
Issued at 05.30 a.m. on 24 June 2026 by the Department of Meteorology

Several spells of showers will occur in the Western, Sabaragamuwa and North-western provinces and in Galle, Matara, Kandy and Nuwara-Eliya districts. Showers or thundershowers may occur at a few places in the Uva province and in Ampara and Batticaloa districts after 2.00 p.m.

Fairly strong winds about (30-40) kmph can be expectedat times over the Western slopes of the central hills, the Northern, North-central, North-western and Southern provinces and in Trincomalee district.

The general public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damage caused by temporary localized strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.