HUMAN-ELEPHANT CONFLICT ESCALATING IN PALLEKELE

We depend mainly on agriculture and we are facing the threat of losing our livelihood due to the wild elephant menace

More than 25 villagers living near the Pallekakle sanctuary are in a predicament due to a herd of wild elephants roaming into the villages from time to time.

The villagers said they depended mainly on agriculture and that they were facing the threat of losing their livelihood due to the wild elephant menace. They pointed out that a herd of wild elephants roamed into the villages at dusk and destroyed their houses and cultivated land. The breakdown of the electric fence separating the wildlife sanctuary and the villages has resulted in the death of several villagers, they said.

A woman of Herathgama in Moragollagama was the latest victim of the wild elephant at- tack she had been trampled to death by a jumbo that entered her home garden. The teachers of Nikawewa Maha Vidyalaya said they had been compelled to begin the school about half an hour late to prevent any possible danger to the children who made a long trek through jungle tracks. A school teacher of the Rambawewa area said his son passed the scholarship and was qualified to enter the Ibbagamuwa Central College, but he lost the opportunity due to the threat of wild elephants.

A woman of Rambewa R.M.Karuna Kumari said her husband was permanently disabled due to head injuries caused by a jumbo that entered his Chena. She said many people were now spending the night in huts on trees for safety. Meanwhile, environmentalists pointed out that the human –elephant conflict in the area was escalating and that the wild elephants had a fair share of it. They said several wild elephants had been poisoned to death by the villagers.