People live in fear due to elephant threats in Mihintale

The villagers of the up-stream of Mahakanadarawa wewa in Mihintale live in fear and suffer due to elephant threats on these days.

The people who live in many villages such as Pothana, ihalagama, Netiyagama, neesiyagama, Weruppankulama, pudukkulama, Surukkulama, Nochchikulama, Maradankalla, Mudewa,welankulama and Karadikkulama are suffering and living in fear.

A lone elephant that roamed into a house in Surukkulama village last Friday (13) had destroyed the cultivated crops of the people and eaten several bags of ‘kurakkan’ and gone back to the forest after destroying the brick walls of the house. An adult couple had lived in this house when the elephant had come and attacked their abode.

When the elephant had attacked the house the woman had fled the house and escaped. The victim K. Wimalawathi (68) said the couple was engaged in agriculture and that her husband(71) had gone to a nearby village for work due to prevailing drought. According to her, the elephant had destroyed everything that they earned during their lifetime.

They said that Mihintale Pradeshiya Sabha had used the government forest reserve to dump garbage and the elephants are attracted to the household garbage. Therefore, the villagers request the Minister of Wildlife to take steps to drive away the elephants to a distant forest.