Elephant Orphanage Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka is the latest country to suffer from devastating floods. Over a million people have so far been displaced by rising waters and the floods are impacting on wildlife. Over 50 wild elephants have so far been killed and a survey has been initiated in the country’s wildlife parks to determine how much wildlife has been affected by the situation.
There are five wildlife parks in Sri Lanka which have been particularly affected by the flooding;
- Lahugala,
- Somawathi,
- Maduruoya,
- Kumana ,
- Kavudulla.
Following a week of severed flooding in the central and east of the country, which has resulted in the deaths of at least 37 people, the waters have now started to drop and people are making their way home.
All wildlife of the region has been affected but the elephants deaths have probably been the most noticeable. Local media have been publishing photographs of a baby elephant that died and whose body has become trapped in the branches of a tree.
In addition to the losses of wildlife there has also been substantial numbers of livestock killed with some estimated putting the number of cattle lost at over 48,000 and over 170,000 poultry birds lost. Agricultural and rice fields have also been badly affected by the floods.
The floods are just another threat to the wild elephants of Sri Lanka. They have had to endure the impacts of the recent fighting that brought an end to the civil war. Human encroachment on their habitat has also resulted in wild elephant deaths. Figures for 2009 show that 228 wild elephants were killed as people moved into elephant habitat.
Over the last 100 years the numbers of wild elephants in Sri Lanka has dropped from between 10,000 and 15,000 to barely 3,000 who remain today. While habitat loss and poaching remains the biggest threats to the elephant if flooding becomes a regular occurrence then this could have a major impact as numbers continue to dwindle.
The new survey of wild elephants in Sri Lanka was announced in December last year before the floods and the latest deaths. The previous official census of elephant numbers in Sri Lanka was undertaken in 2005. The Director General of the Department of Wildlife M.D. Ratnayake says that around 10,000 individuals will be used to take the census. The method of counting would be based on sightings of the elephants within two days, he said.
