Population boom, cause for human-elephant conflict

Vindya Amaranayake
The Nation
December 31, 2006
At least 1834 elephants perished and 742 humans killed due to human-elephant conflict during the last 15 years. Prof. Sarath Kotagama of Colombo University, presenting the data said, “The highest number of human deaths numbering 81, was reported in 1999.” He added that among the elephant deaths, 1192 were males and of the overall deaths 70 percent was due to gunshot wounds. Close to 152 babies were orphaned due to these deaths. “The main cause for the human elephant conflict can be identified due to the loss of elephant home range. With the increase in human population, elephant habitats gradually shrunk,” Kotagama said. Planned and mostly unplanned development resulting in encroachment into elephant habitats due to massive increase in human population is one of the main reasons for the loss of elephant home range.

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