More than 200 wild elephants have died in Sri Lanka so far this year, with 204 deaths recorded between 1 January and 14 August, the Department of Wildlife Conservation says.
Of those, 33 elephants were shot dead and 26 died after contact with illegal electric fences or live wires. Another 26 were killed by “hakka patas” — explosive bait, known as jaw bombs, concealed in food — and four died of poisoning. Seven fell into agricultural wells and seven drowned, while four were killed in road accidents and two in train accidents, the Daily Mirror reported.
Those itemised causes account for 109 of the 204 deaths. The Department did not break down the remaining 95, which in previous releases have been attributed to natural causes or left unidentified.
What has changed since July
Set against the Department’s own seven-month figures, published on 14 July, the shape of the killing has shifted. The total rose from 180 to 204 — 24 more deaths in a month.
Deaths from jaw bombs rose from 19 to 26. That single cause accounts for roughly a third of the month’s increase, and it climbed faster than shootings (30 to 33) or electrocution (23 to 26), which had led the table all year. Poisonings rose from three to four and well deaths from six to seven, while train and road deaths were unchanged at two and four.
Taken together, deaths the Department attributes to direct human activity rose from 75 to 89 over the month.
The overall pace has eased slightly even as the total climbs. The 180 deaths recorded to 14 July worked out at about 0.92 a day; the 204 to 14 August average about 0.90 a day, and the intervening month ran at roughly 0.77. That is still close to the one-elephant-a-day rate that has framed the conflict since April.
Gaps in the record
The Daily Mirror report carries no figure for people killed by elephants. The Department had put that toll at 56 for the first seven months, against 35 through mid-May. Nor does it give a regional breakdown; in July the Eastern Wildlife Region led with 44 deaths, ahead of the Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa regions.
One earlier figure does not sit with the later ones. Departmental data reported in April put train collisions at five through 25 April, but both the July and August releases give two for longer periods — a count that should not fall as the year progresses.
Sri Lanka’s wild elephant population was estimated at 7,451 in the 2024 national survey, up 26.7% on 2011. On that base, this year’s losses to mid-August represent close to 3% of the population in under eight months.
