Minister of Public Administration, Chandana Abeyratne, has sharply criticised Wildlife officers for failing to take effective action to drive wild elephants away from villages, amid a worsening human–elephant conflict that has taken a heavy toll on both communities and wildlife.

Speaking at a special meeting of the Puttalam District Special Disaster Management Committee yesterday, the Minister alleged that officials of the Department of Wildlife Conservation often do not even respond to calls made to their office when elephants encroach upon residential areas, leaving local residents exposed to danger.

The meeting, held under the patronage of Minister Abeyratne, and attended by concerned villagers, highlighted growing frustration in communities where herds of elephants frequently enter human settlements in search of food and water.

Sri Lanka’s long-running human–elephant conflict has become one of the most persistent and tragic wildlife-related crises in the country. According to recent government figures, between 2015 and 2024 the conflict resulted in the deaths of at least 3,477 wild elephants and 1,190 people — an average of hundreds of deaths of both humans and elephants each year.

The worst-affected areas tend to be in the dry zone districts, where the island’s elephant population and rural farming communities share land. Zones such as Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, and parts of the North Central and Eastern Provinces have reported high numbers of elephant fatalities and human casualties as herds move through traditional corridors fragmented by agriculture and infrastructure development.

Experts say habitat loss, shrinking forests, and blocked wildlife corridors have forced elephants into agricultural lands and villages, where they raid crops and occasionally attack people — often with tragic outcomes. In recent years individual districts in the North Central region reported hundreds of elephant deaths attributed to human-related causes such as poisoning, electrocution and train collisions, as well as retaliatory killings by villagers.

At the Puttalam meeting, Minister Abeyratne called for more proactive engagement by wildlife authorities, including rapid response teams to deter elephant incursions before they escalate into incidents that endanger lives.

Local residents told the committee that repeated encounters have eroded confidence in current response measures, and they urged better coordination between disaster management bodies and wildlife officers to prevent future tragedies.