Cost of coexistence

Tragic experience

Bandara, 48, has firsthand experience of how devastating the human-elephant conflict can be.

Last December, an elephant wandered into Bandara's backyard to snack on mangoes.

He attacked Bandara and his wife, Rathnayake Mudiyanselage Shirani Rathnayake, after she rushed to help him.

Bandara was left with a broken leg and dislocated shoulder. Rathnayake, also 48, was trampled and had to have her right leg amputated. She now uses a wheelchair.

"Our lives are now completely different from before the elephant attack. We used to farm together. But 200 percent of those activities have been disrupted. Now we must look after her and the mental strain of that is something we both feel," Bandara said, standing outside his home.

Villagers have been forced to adapt their daily lives to reduce the risk of confrontations.

The nearby school starts lessons 30 minutes after the nationally mandated time of 7:30 am to avoid the early morning when elephants might be around. Villagers also finish work earlier so they can get home before dark, while funerals and weddings are scheduled to minimize the chance of an elephant encounter.

Bandara and his neighbors have a WhatsApp group dedicated to tracking elephant movements. Neighbors often come together to try and chase away any elephant that attempts a raid, yelling and lighting firecrackers, and also take people to hospital in the event of an attack.

Bandara hopes for an end to forest clearing, usually done for farming, and wants to see a commitment to reforestation.

Sri Lanka's forest cover has plummeted from roughly 70 percent in the 1920s to about 34 percent today, World Bank data show.

To complicate matters, as many as 70 percent of Sri Lanka's estimated 7,451 wild elephants live outside protected areas. The elephant population is also growing, recording a 27 percent increase from a decade ago, according to the latest census data.

All this has pushed elephants and people closer physically.

"I do not feel any hatred toward the animal or any animal. He was hungry because of the activities of us humans," Bandara said.

"I see this situation more as karma that my wife and I must endure. What will I get by hating that animal? He is innocent."

AGENCIES VIA XINHUA