Over 3,100 DWC staff and volunteers:
Last survey in 2011 recorded 5,879 elephants:
The Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) will conduct an countrywide census on wild elephants on August 17, 18 and 19.
Wildlife Conservation Department Director General Chandana Suriyabandara said that arrangements have been made to monitor these elephants at 3,130 survey centers established across the country.
In this survey, service of the staff of the Department of Wildlife Conservation, the staff of other government agencies, members of the security forces, employees of various institutions in the private sector, students of higher education institutions and voluntary participants will be obtained for data collection. The Director General further said that the necessary basic training has been provided for them, and the security of the relevant groups will be constantly monitored. Other minimal facilities will be provided to them. Results of the elephant survey will be released by subjecting the data collected in this manner to a formal analysis,the Director General emphasized.
Among the main objectives of the an islandwide census on wild elephants, establishing protected areas and enhancing the status of existing protected areas, preparing and updating strategic plans to curb the wild elephant-human conflict, establishing the balance between development activities and conservation needs, confirming the commitment to Sri Lanka’s international conservation and reaching predictions about the future existence of the elephant population in Sri Lanka.The countrywide survey on elephant population was last conducted in 2011. In that survey, the minimum number of elephant population in Sri Lanka was 5,879 , 55.09 percent of that population were adult elephants, 25.03 percent were young elephants, 12.04 percent were calves and 6.04 were infants.
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