3,000 acre Elephant Sanctuary in Sri Lanka
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- Published on Monday, 14 May 2012 09:51
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Three thousand acres in the Horowpathana area has been identified for establishing a wild elephant sanctuary for the protection of the elephant resources in the country. This has become necessary as more than 100 elephants have been killed recently due to human-elephant conflicts.
Minister of Agrarian Services and Wild Life S.M. Chandrasena said that that violent elephants from other areas will be brought to this sanctuary. He said the purpose of establishing this sanctuary is to tame and release them to the forests. Rs. 250 million will be spent for establishing this sanctuary.
The income derived from visitors to the sanctuary will be used for maintaining the elephants. The Minister also said that food for this sanctuary will be purchased from the farmers of nearby areas thereby boosting their living standards and providing a market facility for their produce.
A census last year found that the country has an elephant population of 5,879 animals, and 1,107 of them were baby elephants.(niz).
