Two remaining jumbos to be kept in ‘safe’ area: SF

Human-elephant conflict:

Wildlife Minister Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka said that the two elephants that remain in the Sinharaja Forest Reserve would be kept in an area measuring 80 acres within the forest reserve in order to mitigate the issues with regard to the elephant-human conflict that had arisen.

Minister Fonseka told a news conference on Wednesday that there was nothing wrong in it statutory wise and added that the Director General of wildlife had all the powers provided by the legislation on wildlife conservation to take decisions that help to safeguard elephants.

“We are doing this not only to protect humans but also for the sake of the elephants. Presently we are treating four elephants that were injured by trap guns used by poachers,” he said.

“When people feel unsafe they use trap guns and ‘hakkapatas’ to drive away elephants, which in turn end up killing them. Earlier, there were 17 elephants in the We are doing this not only to protect humans but also for the sake of the elephants. Presently we are treating four elephants that were injured by trap guns used by poachers Sinharaja Forest Reserve, but now only two are left. Most of them have perished as a result of the humanelephant conflict,” he added. He said the two elephants that remain were reported to have killed at least 15 people and 200 cattle while also destroying 300 coconut trees, adding that the only solution was to isolate the two animals in order to keep them safe and by doing so give the villagers peace of mind. Earlier, President Maithripala Sirisena instructed officials to suspend the transfer of these two elephants from the Sinharaja Forest Reserve until a proper remedy to the humanelephant conflict was found.