• Deputy Minister confirms safe, localised elephant drive

The Ministry of Environment has stated that the recent elephant relocation effort carried out in Hambantota was successful, noting that it was a short-distance operation designed to protect both communities and wildlife.

Speaking to The Sunday Morning, Deputy Minister of Environment Anton Jayakody said that the initiative had been approved at the Hambantota District Coordination Committee after weeks of discussion about rising tensions between villagers and elephants in the area.

“The elephants that had moved into villages were guided back into the reserve. This is not the long-distance, 100 km type of drive that people are talking about. It’s a short-range effort covering about 8-10 km. The objective was to ensure the safety of the elephants and the people.”

Jayakody, on an earlier occasion, said that the decision had been taken after reviewing past incidents where both humans and elephants had been killed and homes and crops damaged. 

He added that even earlier reports endorsed by Parliament had recommended moving elephants only to nearby areas rather than pushing them across vast stretches of land.

Commenced on 2 November, the project involved relocating herds of elephants living outside protected zones in the Hambantota District. Around 2,000 personnel from the Department of Wildlife Conservation, Air Force, Police, and Civil Defence Force had been deployed.

Environmental groups had, however, urged the authorities to reconsider the strategy, pointing out that scientific studies had shown elephant drives to be largely ineffective and, in some cases, harmful.