By Ifham Nizam
The Wildlife Department has failed to submit the comprehensive report on the first national survey of Sri Lanka’s wild elephants which took place in August 2011.
The report was to be handed over to President Mahinda Rajapaksa last September but is yet to be completed.
Wildlife Department Director Operations H. D. Ratnayake told The Island yesterday that the report was delayed due to the absence of one of the key conservationists.
He said that Professor Charles Santhiapillai would soon return to the country to put the final touches and the last chapter.
"This is going to be an important document. We have been already working on some of the recommendations in it," he added.
The initial report showed an elephant population of more than 5,800.
The survey revealed that Sri Lanka had 5,879 wild elephants. The figure includes 122 tuskers – male elephants with tusks – and 1,107 calves.
Ratnayake said the previous population estimate was 5,350.
"These statistics show that Sri Lanka’s elephants are in good health and that their population is growing," he said.
Ratnayake said the information gathered would be used to devise plans to protect the endangered species.
About 20 wildlife groups had protested against the count, accusing the government of using it as a "smokescreen" for capturing the endangered animals and domesticating some of the young for use in tourism, labour and religious activities.
On average around 250 elephants are killed annually, mostly by farmers defending their crops or villages.
The survey was conducted using the method known as a "water hole count".
About 4,000 wildlife workers, farmers and villagers were deployed on three days at more than 1,500 locations across the country to survey the elephants as they came to drink at water holes.
Previous elephant counts were confined to specific regions. One such census, in 1993, found 1,967 elephants, but it excluded the island’s north and east, where the civil war was raging at the time.
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=49531
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