- Over 220 elephant deaths and counting in 2025
There are few creatures as intrinsically tied to Sri Lanka’s cultural and ecological identity as the Sri Lankan elephant. A subspecies unique to the island (and the largest Asian elephant), it is, in short, one of our most iconic national treasures.
Elephants form a significant part of our national iconography, not just as symbols of pride and power in religious and cultural life, but also as a key part of our global appeal and our position as one of the most unique hotspots of biodiversity.
Ecologically, too, the Sri Lankan elephant is a keystone species whose movements have shaped our forests, water systems, and ecosystems for millennia. Even today, in the digital age where we have access to thousands, if not millions, of pictures and videos of elephants, encountering an elephant in the wild is to witness something ancient and magnificent.
Yet today, that majesty is under siege. Our elephants are critically endangered and increasingly caught in the crossfire between development, agriculture, and survival. Despite their protected status and cultural reverence, elephants are dying at an alarming rate.
The reasons for these deaths are many, as these last few weeks have shown us. Whether struck by trains, shot on farmlands, or killed by trap guns and electrified fences, these deaths are not just tragic; they are symptomatic of a deeper, systemic failure to manage the ongoing Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC).
The Sunday Morning explored this latest string of widely reported elephant deaths, reaching out to conservationist experts to examine the story behind these lives lost; where the gaps in coexistence, governance, and long-term planning lie; and what we can do to mitigate the issue.
The 2025 death toll
Sri Lanka has witnessed a troubling rise in elephant deaths over the past five years. According to official data, 318 elephants died in 2020, increasing to 375 in 2021, and then surging to 433 in 2022. The year 2023 marked the highest toll on record, with 488 elephant deaths – an average of more than one elephant lost every single day. In contrast, 2024 saw a decline, with the death toll falling to 388.
The year 2025, however, seems likely to see an alarming increase in deaths. Over 220 elephant deaths have been reported so far, and experts warn that the total could again exceed 400 by December if urgent measures are not taken. Recent weeks, in particular, have seen a series of shocking elephant deaths push the crisis into the national spotlight.
Among the most talked about was the prolonged and painful death of Bathiya, a revered wild tusker who was shot multiple times, once with a trap gun and later behind the ear in a second suspected poaching attempt. Bathiya survived for weeks with agonising injuries, during which veterinarians and conservationists scrambled to treat him in the field.
Despite their efforts, he succumbed to his wounds on 15 July. His suffering and ultimate death has become emblematic of the larger failure to protect Sri Lanka’s remaining tuskers – an already miniscule population of immense genetic and symbolic value.
Just days later, on 18 July, four more elephants died in separate incidents across the island. Two were killed in a single train collision, while the other two were fatally shot. This brought the number of recorded elephant deaths for 2025 to over 220 by mid-year.
More carcasses have been found since, including eight elephants in the Inamaluwa Forest Reserve, many of which showed signs of tusk removal – an indication of organised poaching. In the same week, a 30-year-old bull elephant was struck and killed by a train in Suduminum Gama near Gallela, while elsewhere in the country, electrocution and jaw bomb injuries were reported in multiple cases.
As of 24 July, official records tallied 232 elephant deaths in 2025, surpassing what was reported just days earlier, and reinforcing predictions that the annual toll may exceed 400 lives by year-end.
In response to the growing public concern and the mounting death toll, the Ministry of Environment announced earlier this week that it would conduct a special investigation into elephant deaths occurring outside protected areas. The inquiry, which brings together the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC), civil society stakeholders, and environmental experts, aims to assess the causes of recent fatalities and propose urgent policy responses.
The investigation will pay particular attention to deaths caused by train collisions, trap guns, electrocution, and poaching – many of which occur in agricultural zones and human settlements, often beyond the direct scope of existing wildlife protection measures. While still in its early stages, the inquiry marks one of the first formal acknowledgements from a ministry that a broader, multi-agency response is needed to address the crisis.
Realities of HEC
Centre for Conservation and Research Chairman Dr. Prithiviraj Fernando, one of Sri Lanka’s foremost elephant experts and the architect of the 2020 National Action Plan (NAP) on HEC, explained that the rising death toll was no accident.
“After a number of years, in 2023/2024, there was a decrease in deaths of both humans and elephants,” he explained.
“A possible reason for this was that the 2020 NAP was partly implemented in those years. Most notably, more than 300 [temporary] community-based paddy fields were implemented under the purview of the Department of Agrarian Development. The DWC also drastically reduced the number of elephant drives and elephant translocations that it carried out, and this also probably contributed to a decrease in elephant deaths.”
Dr. Fernando added that this partial implementation of the NAP was because of a presidential committee set up by the previous Government. However, the change of governments last year meant the dissolution of that committee, and by extension, the halting of the implementation of these aspects of the NAP.
This, coupled with the revival of elephant drives and translocations – measures long discredited by conservationists – are potential reasons for the increase in HEC and elephant deaths. “When you undertake elephant drives, conflict increases,” Dr. Fernando warned. “These methods push elephants into unfamiliar territories and agitate them, often making things worse.”
Speaking on the recent elephant deaths, DWC Acting Director General Ranjan Marasinghe shared that while there were no changes in policy currently in progress, the DWC would be strengthening its initiatives that dealt with issues like trap guns.
“The DWC usually executes a programme during the dry season and works closely with the Police to arrest those hunting illegally. This time, we will be searching more stringently for trap guns and removing muzzle-loading guns, especially in and around protected areas.”
“A problem we have is that HEC always becomes fairly higher than usual during the dry season, and so, we have to engage more officers to manage HEC more effectively and protect villages from elephant attacks. This kind of manpower is not always possible, but we’re working with other agencies like the Police Department to help get the manpower required during the dry season,” he noted.
University of Colombo (UOC) Department of Zoology and Environment Sciences Professor Sampath Seneviratne called the current rate of elephant deaths “unlike anything in the recent past,” drawing particular attention to the killing of mature tuskers like Bathiya and its implications for the long-term stability of the Sri Lankan elephant.
“Only about 4% of male elephants in Sri Lanka have tusks; females do not grow tusks at all,” he noted, adding that other Asian elephant populations, like Thailand, for example, had a much higher proportion of tuskers (close to 75% across both genders).
“In the Sri Lankan context, bull elephants are genetically critical. Typically, bulls over 50 years old are the only ones of the size and maturity to successfully sire offspring. If we keep losing them, we risk a genetic bottleneck that will cripple the future of the species.”
While train accidents and poaching dominate the headlines, these are not the only causes of death for elephants. The DWC has previously shared with the media that annually, 20% of elephants succumb to gunshot injuries, another 14% of elephants die due to illegal electrocution, and 10% die due to hakka patas (explosive devices like jaw bombs).
Trap guns – locally manufactured and improvised firearms, often spring-loaded, that are deployed along animal paths to target wild boar or other bushmeat – also account for a substantial number of deaths. They are not aimed at elephants but frequently injure them inadvertently. Other animals and even humans fall victim to trap guns.
Creatively mending fences
At its heart, HEC is a misnomer. It is not a battle between species, but a symptom of fractured coexistence – of decisions made without considering the long-term costs to both people and wildlife. Elephants are not invaders; they are native inhabitants of these landscapes, shaped by centuries of movement through forests, grasslands, and river corridors.
When they are forced into conflict, it is often because their pathways have been blocked, their food sources depleted, and their access to water denied. Coexistence is not an idealistic worldview; it is the only sustainable path forward for a country that still shares its land with this ancient and irreplaceable species.
For those working on the frontlines of conservation, the tools to mitigate HEC are already well known. What remains elusive is the political will and coordinated implementation to use them effectively. Dr. Fernando shared that one of the most impactful ways to manage HEC was elephant fences, but not in the way they were currently implemented.
Currently, elephant fences (often electric) are used to portion off wide areas of land. This creates several issues; it blocks elephant corridors, preventing elephants from moving about from one food or water source to another. Elephants breaking through fences is also a significant drawback, as is the amount of manpower that goes into maintaining these fences and policing them to fix gaps.
“The best thing would be to put up a smaller electric fence and protect your crops or home during the season. If your crops are in danger, put up the fence for a shorter time so that it can be taken down when no longer needed,” he said.
This practical, temporary fencing strategy – one that was heavily highlighted in the National Action Plan of 2020 – focused on protecting communities as opposed to serving as barriers across wider landscapes and saw successful implementation on a small scale by the Department of Agrarian Development in 2023 and 2024.
It allowed villages to protect home gardens and paddy fields with community cooperation. However, this year, the programme, which was initiated by the presidential committee convened in 2022 to oversee the implementation of the NAP, was halted.
Dr. Fernando stressed that Government intervention was vital for these community-based fences to be turned into an effective tool for larger HEC mitigation. “The communities face a lack of technical knowledge when it comes to being able to put up these fences. It’s also fairly expensive,” he said.
He noted that while the cost component could be dealt with through subsidisation strategies and the overall community contributing to the cost, these were issues that still needed to be addressed from a broader national perspective. “There’s also the additional issue of people’s perception of such initiatives and willingness to work together for the benefit of the community as opposed to working privately.”
Dr. Fernando stressed that any realistic long-term solution must centre on giving affected communities access to tools and strategies that worked. “There is no point telling the public to do or not do this if they don’t have access to solutions,” he said. “People are doing what they know to overcome their problems, which often harms elephants in the process. We have to provide them with solutions they can access.”
This critique of fences as mitigation measures was echoed by Prof. Seneviratne, who noted that ill-planned fencing and translocations were often implemented with little ecological sensitivity.
“The solution is often an electric fence. But it only works if you place it in a careful, ecologically sensitive way,” he explained. “What we see is every politician and their associates covering their area of interest with a fence, thinking that will solve the problem. Over time, this has created situations where elephants have no option but to go into fields.”
The DWC also supports fencing as a core part of its daily activities. DWC Acting Director General Marasinghe shared that around 80% of the activities outlined in the 2020 National Action Plan were already part of the DWC’s day-to-day operations in some capacity. “We no longer translocate elephants as much or chase them across long distances,” he explained.
However, despite referring to the NAP, the DWC is not able to implement it as much as it would like. “Parts of the plan, like inter-agency coordination and contributions from other agencies, are things that those agencies need to do of their own accord. Refraining from translocating elephants as much, chasing elephants across long distances – these things we are already doing,” Marasinghe said, noting that the DWC strived to implement the best mitigation strategies possible given the limitations of its own resources.
Marasinghe also shared that a few weeks ago, the President had personally instructed the DWC to form district-level committees to devise localised district plans for mitigation that could become part of a larger coordination structure.
Reframing HEC as a social issue
For University of Colombo Department of Zoology and Environment Sciences Senior Prof. Devaka Weerakoon, a core part of the problem is how Sri Lanka addresses HEC.
“It needs to be addressed as a social issue. Right now, the DWC is given almost sole charge of addressing HEC, but the problem of HEC affects society on many levels,” he said, adding that this siloed approach was doomed to fail.
“There are so many departments in this country that work for our social benefit. If this is a social problem, we also need to look at social agencies and governance structures to come up with a response. You can’t expect the DWC alone to solve it. And 80% of the time, the DWC is taken away from its core job of conserving Sri Lanka’s biodiversity. HEC is not its only job. The State must come up with standard procedures at a wider level to deal with this, or it will only continue to escalate,” he said.
Prof. Weerakoon also pointed out that the conflict was not merely about elephants raiding crops or entering villages. It is deeply tied to land use, illegal settlements, poverty, and even poor waste management, which can attract animals into human spaces. “This is a social issue, a governance issue,” he emphasised. “Unless the Government takes a solid decision on which agencies will take responsibility, this will continue. More animals will die, and more people will be affected.”
Prof. Seneviratne also warned that the crisis was being exacerbated by political neglect and a lack of accountability. “Land grabs, firearm distribution, illegal fencing – these are not isolated issues. They’re happening with the backing of local power structures,” he said. “What we’re seeing is a kind of unspoken war on elephants.”
In his view, Sri Lanka is already on the brink of losing a vital part of its ecological and cultural identity. “We spend hundreds of millions protecting individuals. Why can’t we give even a fraction of that to protect our elephants?” he asked.
“We need to treat our mature bull elephants, and especially our tuskers, like VVIPs. There are only about 20 mature bull elephants left in the wild. It is them who need to breed for the future of the population. We should protect them day and night if we must.”
Moving forward
While the situation seems grim at present, there are efforts underway to stem the tide. Marasinghe shared that the seasonal crackdown on illegal hunting was not the only strategy that would be put in place to help manage HEC.
On the issue of train accidents, he explained that a multi-agency team was now operational. “We’re working with the Railways Department and the Forest Department. We have been clearing underbrush in hotspot areas to improve visibility, testing thermal cameras, and modifying engines to allow for faster stopping.” These are incremental but important steps.
Another plan of action recommended by conservationists is the construction of wildlife underpasses. Wildlife underpasses are specially constructed pathways – usually tunnels or culverts – that allow animals to safely cross beneath roads or railway lines without coming into contact with vehicles.
An alternative is for the trains to pass through an underpass to keep wildlife corridors and pathways as intact as possible. For elephants, these underpasses are designed to be wide, tall, and clear of obstructions, mimicking natural corridors they would typically use in the wild.
The goal is to reduce fatal collisions by preserving the connectivity of elephant habitats that are increasingly fragmented by infrastructure development. When properly located in known elephant crossing zones and integrated with fencing to guide movement, underpasses can dramatically lower the risk of accidents and support safer coexistence between wildlife and human transportation networks.
When asked about underpasses and overpasses, which have been proposed to help elephants cross railway lines safely, opinions were divided.
Prof. Seneviratne supported the idea. “It’s highly feasible and the best long-term solution,” he said, adding that the landscape could support it in key areas. Dr. Fernando agreed in principle but cautioned about cost and complexity, noting that slowing down night trains in hotspot areas could immediately save lives.
Prof. Weerakoon offered a counterpoint. “Underpasses are not possible everywhere,” he said. “You need proper analysis. Train accidents account for less than 10% of elephant deaths. Are we going to spend billions to address 10% while ignoring the 90%?”
All the experts agree on one point: the 2020 National Action Plan remains a solid foundation. The problem is implementation. “Having a plan helps no one unless it is implemented,” Prof. Weerakoon said. “We need a concerted approach with clear responsibilities, sustainable interventions, and the political will to follow through.”
At current rates, the number of elephant deaths could exceed 400 by the end of the year, and with each elephant that dies, the challenges deepen – not just for conservation, but for communities, farmers, and the ecosystems that rely on elephants as natural engineers.
This crisis is not without solutions. The National Action Plan exists and can serve to significantly reduce elephant casualties. But implementation has stalled, held back by the recent changes in government and weak inter-agency coordination. But it is still not too late for progress. “We don’t need to reinvent the wheel,” said Dr. Fernando. “We just need to put the plan into action.”