COLOMBO: World Elephant Day which falls on 12th August was created to raise awareness, create change and to save these majestic creatures. World Elephant Day is an international initiative co-founded by the Elephant Reintroduction Foundation of Thailand and Patricia Sims, the Canadian Film maker and Founding President of World Elephant Society. Since its inception in 2012, it has partnered with over 100 elephant conservation organizations worldwide to create global awareness.
World Elephant Day is the mode by which organizations and individuals can rally together to give voice to the issues threatening elephants. Many have shown their concern about the plight of elephants through acknowledgement of World Elephant Day, proving that people love and respect this majestic animal. On this day, individuals and organizations around the world are encouraged to work towards elephant conservation.
In Sri Lanka, Elephants hold high symbolic, cultural and economic importance. As per statistics, Sri Lanka is home to over 5000 Asian elephants which is almost 10% of the global population of Asian Elephants. The biggest issue faced by African elephants is poaching while Asian elephants have been more drastically impacted by habitat loss, and exploitation in captivity. There are less than 40,000 Asian elephants left worldwide, they are classified as an endangered species ( Refer International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) IUCN Red List ).The Sri Lankan elephant (Elephas maximus maximus) is also an endangered sub specie.
From a Sri Lankan perspective, in recent times elephants are experiencing greater habitat encroachment, due to increasing human populations. The overlapping of the lives of elephants and humans (especially in the rural areas) has resulted in more occurrences of human-elephant conflict. These conflicts have led to deadly consequences to both parties. There are many aspects that trigger these conflicts such as crop raiding, droughts, behavioral changes in elephants, use of firecrackers/guns etc. Further in certain areas, when elephants are deprived of food from natural habitat, they rummage through trash dump sites and end up eating toxic plastic/polythene leading them to ill health and at times to death. ‘Elephant Conservation’ is vital, although this subject has been discussed for many years, there is much more to do in creating awareness and taking measures to coexist while reducing conflicts. On this day, let us spread awareness on preservation and protection of this majestic animal.
