Focus on elephant conservation

by Dhaneshi YATAWARA

Construction work on the elephant holding ground in Horowpothana has been expedited under the Wildlife Conservation Department. The holding ground will shelter elephants injured and abandoned mainly due to the human-elephant conflict in the North Central Province.

Wildlife officials are more concerned in protecting the elephants in the same geographical area, making conservation more effective.

The Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) is already in the process of constructing another elephant holding ground in Lunugamwehera.

Establishing these elephant holding grounds and a new conservation centre for orphaned elephant calves and juveniles at Ritigala will be a main focus of the Department in their elephant conservation efforts, said Director (Operations), DWC H. D. Ratnayake.

"The electric fence at Lunugamvehera is 34 kilometres and in Horowpothana it is 18 kilometres. The Department will set up the fence based on a new method with three barriers," he said. There will be two electric fences and another fence in between two high tension wires. "Even when there is no electricity on the fences, the elephants will not be able to escape from the boundary," he said.