Sri Lankan elephant Kavantissa dies after a gunshot wound
His October 16 death highlights recurring losses of lives and crops, as conservationists promote citrus planting and school transport to reduce dangerous encounters.
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His October 16 death highlights recurring losses of lives and crops, as conservationists promote citrus planting and school transport to reduce dangerous encounters.
Kavantissa, a male elephant believed to be Sri Lanka’s tallest, died on October 16 despite veterinary treatment for a gunshot wound. Villagers near Galgamuwa in the country’s northwest had noticed him limping in late September and discovered the wound on his right leg, DW reported.
His death follows years of deadly encounters between people and elephants. Sri Lanka’s government drafted a national action plan in 2020 to reduce the conflict. Official statistics cited by DW show the following annual averages since 2019:
| Group | Deaths per year |
|---|---|
| Elephants | 370 |
| People | 125 |
The Department of Wildlife Conservation estimated that Sri Lanka had 7,451 wild elephants in 2024, with about 70% living outside protected areas. Forest cover has shrunk over recent decades as the population has grown and land has been cleared for farming, DW reported.
Ravi Corea, president of the nonprofit Sri Lanka Wildlife Conservation Society, told DW that habitat loss, expanding agriculture, broken-up elephant corridors and competition for land and resources are the main drivers of the conflict. Elephant corridors are strips of land connecting larger habitats, allowing the animals to move between them for food, water, breeding and seasonal migration.
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In Wasgamuwa, the conservation society promotes citrus cultivation because elephants dislike eating citrus, Corea said. He said the planting reduces crop raiding while providing farmers with another source of income.
Encounters along elephant corridors have also discouraged some children from walking to school, DW reported. The society says a school bus service in Wasgamuwa carries children through the corridors and has reduced dangerous human-elephant encounters along its original route by more than 90%.
Corea said the 2020 action plan provides a useful foundation but called for a broader national conservation strategy with enforceable habitat protection. His proposed goal extends beyond fewer encounters to connected habitats that can sustain wild elephant populations.
Kamal Shashendra, a Sri Lanka-based environmental ethics researcher, told DW that protecting people, livelihoods and elephants together requires science-based land-use planning, protected corridors, suitable community fencing, effective early-warning systems and fair compensation for affected families.
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