Recently, a breathtaking video of 200 elephants crossing the road emerged on Twitter, portraying the “fencing the village” strategy used to mitigate the human-elephant conflict (HEC) in the Galgamuwa area. Speaking to a wildlife conservationist who wished to remain anonymous, we learnt that Galgumuwa has been trialing the “fencing the village” strategy in opposition to “fencing off protected areas”, thus cutting off historical wild elephant corridors. However, with time, on the flipside, the idea that wildlife should not be outside protected areas became dominant. The management of elephants has two major objectives: HEC mitigation and elephant conservation, with the former taking priority in practice. Fencing the village is one such strategy.

Source: The Nation August 04, 2021 18:45 UTC