Cost of coexistence

Editor's note: In this weekly feature China Daily gives voice to Asia and its people. The stories presented come mainly from the Asia News Network (ANN), of which China Daily is among its 20 leading titles.

Clad in his khaki wildlife officer's uniform, Dewagiri Mudiyanselage Thilakaratne Bandara rides his motorbike a short distance from his home to the electric fence that is the main line of defense against the dozens of wild elephants that live in the rapidly shrinking forest nearby.

The fence stretches 14 kilometers along the Usgala Siyambalangamuwa tank, a reservoir in the island's northwest, to protect the more than 2,000 families who live nearby.

Galgamuwa is on the front line of one of the world's most serious human-elephant conflicts. An average of 138 people have been killed in encounters with the animals each year in Sri Lanka since 2019, the second-highest death toll in the world.

The death toll for elephants, forced into villages for food as their habitat shrinks, climbed to an average of 402 a year during the same period, the world's highest.

Twenty years ago, there were large forests but eventually cleared and then the elephants started moving closer, Bandara said, as he worked to repair the fence with his team.

"When we were little, we had to go to a corner of the tank to see elephants. Now, in the nights, the elephants come to see us."

Sri Lankans have deep cultural ties with elephants. The animals feature in colorful temple pageants, and owning one is a status symbol. Elephants are also a mainstay of the island's $4 billion tourism industry.

But elephant deaths reached a record high of 488 in 2023, according to the Department of Wildlife Conservation. Data show dozens were shot as they encroached on villages, while others died from poisoning, electrocution, in train accidents or after falling into wells.