DRONE TECHNOLOGY TO CHASE ELEPHANTS
DRONE TECHNOLOGY TO CHASE ELEPHANTS
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COLOMBO (News 1st): The Department of Wildlife Conservation has taken steps to use drone technology to chase away elephants; the pilot project of this initiative is currently underway in the Naula Rathgammana area in Matale, wildlife officials said on Saturday (Jan. 02).
The pilot project is conducted together with the Sri Lanka Army Research Unit and Sri Lanka Navy, M.S.R.C. Marasinghe, the Director of Operations at the Department of Wildlife Conservation told News 1st.
Based on the success of the pilot project, plans are underway to use drone technology for operations to chase elephants in other parts of the island as well, the Director of Operations at the Wildlife Department further noted.
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Sri Lanka recently set a record for the highest annual number of elephant deaths and the second highest
number of human deaths as a result of the Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC). Even though this has been a topic that resurfaces from time to time, elephant conservationists believe that successive governments have tried to address this issue from a human-centric manner. In addition, decisions to revoke forest lands circulars to give way for commercial purposes, development projects taking place sans Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), fragmenting habitats, diminishing forest cover and encroachments into wildlife habitats are some of the key catalysts that would aggravate HEC in time to come. Therefore community-based interventions have been recommended and pi
HomeOpinionThe elephant is in the room and will not go away The elephant is in the room and will not go away 31 December 2020 02:33 am - 0
No. Not THAT elephant, nor the one which turned itself into a telephone. Neither are in the room. The compass is not in the room either and there’s palpable evidence that even the lotus bud has got displaced. That’s if ‘people’ constitute ‘the room.’
These days, the proverbial elephant in the room is the Coronavirus. The room is enormous and constitutes almost the entire landmass of the earth or rather those parts inhabited by humans. Today we are told that the virus is going to hang in there for quite a while, vaccines notwithstanding. We are told that we better resolve to live with the virus.
2071
Colombo, December 13
Sri Lanka has recorded the highest number of elephant deaths in the world due to the human-elephant conflict, according to a media report.
The island-nation’s Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) had ordered a special audit into the human-elephant conflict by renowned elephant expert Dr Prithviraj Fernando, the head of the Centre for Conservation and Research.
In a meeting of the COPA held recently, it was also disclosed that Sri Lanka ranked number two globally after India where highest number of human deaths were reported due to the human-elephant conflict, according to Daily News.
COPE Committee Chairman Tissa Vitarana said that in the past 12 months, the number of elephants killed in conflict with humans in Sri Lanka was 407 as against the previous annual average of 272. The number of people killed also increased from an average of 85 humans to 122 per year in the country.
The human-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka has become more deadly. The human death toll averages 272 a year, while 407 elephants have died in the past year.
Environmentalist Nuwan Danuska Ariyathilake wants authorities to work together in a more efficient way to resolve the conflict. He said some farmers poison or shoot wild elephants because they destroy crops and damage property. Many development plans we make are not environmentally friendly. Due to some development projects, people have been settled in jungles. We need a permanent plan for development projects in the country, said Ariyathilake from Kurunegala.
The Parliamentary Committee on Public Accounts has revealed that Sri Lanka has become the country with the highest number of elephant deaths and second-highest number of human deaths due to human-elephant conflict.