The Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) will conduct a census on wild elephants during the month of August this year after a lapse of 13 years. The census will be held countrywide on August 19 and 20.
It has been planned to deploy nearly 7,500 officers for the survey and soldiers of the Civil Security Department will also be involved in this task
The survey will be held at 2,500 selected bathing and water drinking spots (mankadas ) which wild elephants visit almost every day to quench their thirst, Kurunegala District Senior Wildlife Conservation Officer M.A. Ariyadasa told the Sunday Observer.
Once in every ten years, a census of wild elephants is conducted in Sri Lanka and the last census on wild elephants was held in 2011. At that time, it was revealed that there are nearly 5,800 wild elephants in Sri Lanka. However, nearly 350 wild elephants die annually countrywide due to the human-elephant conflict and majestic tuskers and wild elephants are considered to be an animal species of extinction at present, he said.
During the past five years, Rs. 4,200 million has been spent by the Government for the conservation of the wild elephant population, he added.
