{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-572d6a42.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-f4d0de30.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='Elephant census causing controversy' data-url='/boclips/videos/5c54bed4d8eafeecae13ea31' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/5c54bed4d8eafeecae13ea31' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nElephant census causing controversy\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003eAP TelevisionMinneriya National Park, Sri Lanka, 11th August 20111. Various of elephants2. Census counters standing on back of utility vehicle3. Various of elephants4. Various photographer taking photos of wild elephants5. Various wild...\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003eAP Television\u003cbr/\u003eMinneriya National Park, Sri Lanka, 11th August 2011\u003cbr/\u003e1. Various of elephants\u003cbr/\u003e2. Census counters standing on back of utility vehicle\u003cbr/\u003e3. Various of elephants\u003cbr/\u003e4. Various photographer taking photos of wild elephants\u003cbr/\u003e5. Various wild life officer and two volunteers engaged in counting elephants on a tree-top near Minneriya reservoir\u003cbr/\u003e6. Elephants walking through trees \u003cbr/\u003e7. Various S.R.B Dissanayake taking notes \u003cbr/\u003e8. SOUNDBITE: (English) S.R.B Dissanayake, Deputy Director, Department of Wildlife Conservation:\u003cbr/\u003e\"In the past we have conducted a number of surveys, but we could not cover northern and eastern areas - some parts of the eastern areas during those surveys because of the insurgency situation prevailing at that time. The objective is not to get the exact numbers of elephants. Our main objective is to understand the population structure of elephants. That means proportion of calves, proportion of adults, proportion of sub-adults - juveniles - and male /female sex ratio. Things like that.\" \u003cbr/\u003e9. Mid shot elephants \u003cbr/\u003e10. SOUNDBITE: (English) Mr. S.R.B Dissanayake, Deputy Director, Department of Wildlife Conservation:\u003cbr/\u003e\"Some elephants range outside protected areas. Those elephants come into contact with people. I think with these survey results we''ll be able to use that kind of information to take action - to reduce human-elephant conflict in this country.\"\u003cbr/\u003e11. Single tusker in the jungle\u003cbr/\u003e12. Various of officials filling in census forms\u003cbr/\u003e13. Wide of elephants\u003cbr/\u003e14. Mid officer counting elephants\u003cbr/\u003e15. Various of elephants\u003cbr/\u003e16. SOUNDBITE: (English) Dr. Raman Sukuma, Professor of Ecology, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore:\u003cbr/\u003e\"Population structure can tell you a lot about the health and the demography of the elephant population in Sri Lanka. For instance a very large number of juveniles and calves in the population - what we are seeing right now in this herd today - indicated that it''s a very fecund, or a very fertile population and the elephants are reproducing very well and this will have implications in the future for conservation and for management of the elephant population of this island.\"\u003cbr/\u003e17. Mid elephants \u003cbr/\u003e18. Charles Santhiyapillai taking notes with Sukuma in background\u003cbr/\u003e19. SOUNDBITE: (English) Dr. Charles Santhiyapillai, Associate Professor of Zoology, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka:\u003cbr/\u003e\"A population of about 111 elephants in one area is of little significance, if tomorrow this area is going to be converted into another kind of development like a housing estate of agricultural development, so the stability of the population is important.\" \u003cbr/\u003e20. Various elephants\u003cbr/\u003eAP Television\u003cbr/\u003eMinneriya National Park, Sri Lanka, 12th August 2011\u003cbr/\u003e21. Various of shot down elephant due to human-elephant conflict\u003cbr/\u003e22. SOUNDBITE: (English) Mr. Rukshan Jayawardene, Chairman, Wild Life Conservation Forum:\u003cbr/\u003e\"These animals also have rights, not only humans and we have to learn to share this island. Humans and elephants need to learn to share this island and whatever measures we take to resolve human-elephant conflict cannot involve baby elephants being capturered from the wild.\"\u003cbr/\u003e23. Various of shot down elephant due to human-elephant conflict\u003cbr/\u003e24. SOUNDBITE: (English) Mr. Rukshan Jayawardene, Chairman, Wild Life Conservation Forum:\u003cbr/\u003e\"There is a lot of cruelty involved in baby elephants being captured and trained for whatever purpose. This is Sri Lanka''s natural wealth, national heritage. This is not just for the Sri Lankans that are living today, but for future generations.\" \u003cbr/\u003eAP Television\u003cbr/\u003eMinneriya National Park, Sri Lanka, 13th August 2011\u003cbr/\u003e25. Various of elephants taking part in the Kandy perahara pageant \u003cbr/\u003eThousands of rangers and volunteers in Sri Lanka are carrying out the island nation''s first full count of its dwindling wild elephant population.\u003cbr/\u003eThe government says the census is aimed at devising a plan to protect the elephants. \u003cbr/\u003eBut several conservation groups have boycotted the count, accusing the government of using it as a smoke screen for capturing and domesticating the best young animals for use in temples, tourism and labour.\u003cbr/\u003eSri Lanka closed all its national parks to tourists for the census.\u003cbr/\u003eNearly 4,000 wildlife workers, farmers and villagers have been sent to more than 1,500 locations across the country to survey elephants as they come to water sources for a drink.\u003cbr/\u003eThese elephants are at the Minneriya reservoir in central Sri Lanka.  \u003cbr/\u003ePrevious elephant counts were confined to specific regions. One such census in 1993, found 1,967 elephants, but it excluded the island''s north and east, where a civil war was raging at the time. \u003cbr/\u003eWith the war''s end in 2009, wildlife officials now have access to the former war zones, and are conducting the survey with the help of armed forces.\u003cbr/\u003eDeputy Director of the Department of Wildlife Conservation, S.R.B Dissanayake says:\u003cbr/\u003e\"The objective is not to get the exact numbers of elephants. Our main objective is to understand the population structure of elephants. That means proportion of calves, proportion of adults, proportion of sub-adults - juveniles - and male /female sex ratio. Things like that.\" \u003cbr/\u003eIn the early 1900s, an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 elephants roamed wild on this tropical island off the southern coast of India. \u003cbr/\u003eOfficials believe Sri Lanka''s elephant population is currently 5,000 to 6,000.\u003cbr/\u003ePoaching and the loss of habitat due to human activities such as deforestation for farming have taken their toll.\u003cbr/\u003eOfficials say the census will give an idea of where the elephants roam, what food is available to them in the area and the likelihood of them invading villages and farms. \u003cbr/\u003e\"Some elephants range outside of protected areas. Those elephants come into contact with people. I think with these survey results we''ll be able to use that information to take action - to reduce human-elephant conflict in this country,\" says Dissanayake. \u003cbr/\u003eAt the 9,000-hectare (22,000-acre) Minneriya National Park, rangers have been camping out in this treetop hut with a three-day provision of food, medicine, a flashlight and manuals about how to do the elephant count. \u003cbr/\u003eThis is one of a dozen posts in the park.\u003cbr/\u003eThe rangers have been cataloguing the elephants by age, gender and distinguishing characteristics to ensure there is no double counting.\u003cbr/\u003eRaman Sukumar is an ecologist from India helping with the census. \u003cbr/\u003eHe says: \"Population structure can tell you a lot about the health and the demography of the elephant population in Sri Lanka. For instance a very large number of juveniles and calves in the population - what we are seeing right now in this herd today - indicated that it''s a very fecund, or a very fertile population and the elephants are reproducing very well and this will have implications in the future for conservation and for management of the elephant population of this island.\"\u003cbr/\u003eWild elephants are increasingly entering villages in search of food, rampaging through houses, destroying crops and killing an estimated 50 people a year.\u003cbr/\u003eAround 250 elephants are killed annually, mostly by farmers defending their crops or villages.\u003cbr/\u003eRukshan Jayawardene, chairman of the activist group Wildlife Conservation Forum, says the killings must stop. \u003cbr/\u003e\"These animals also have rights, not only humans and we have to learn to share this island. Humans and elephants need to learn to share this island and whatever measures we take to resolve human-elephant conflict cannot involve baby elephants being taken from the wild.\"\u003cbr/\u003eThere are also fears that elephants are being slated for capture so they can be put to work. \u003cbr/\u003eAbout 20 wildlife groups that had agreed to deploy volunteers for the count withdrew their support after Wildlife Minister, S.M. Chandransena was quoted saying 300 young elephants would be captured and handed over to Buddhist temples after the census.\u003cbr/\u003eChandransena later said he was misquoted, and the head of the Wildlife Department, H.D. Ratnayake denied that the government planned to capture any wild elephants.\u003cbr/\u003eJayawardene says he fears the elephants would not end up in temples, but in private residences, working long hours.\u003cbr/\u003eSome wealthy, aristocratic families consider owning an elephant as a sign of prestige. Domesticated elephants are also used to give rides to tourists and to carry heavy weights, such as in the logging industry.\u003cbr/\u003eMany tamed elephants die early due to lack of proper food and lives of hard labour. \u003cbr/\u003e\"There is a lot of cruelty involved in baby elephants being captured and trained for whatever purpose. This is Sri Lanka''s natural wealth, national heritage. This is not just for the Sri Lankans that are living today, but for future generations,\" says Jayawardene. \u003cbr/\u003eThese elephants are taking part in the annual Kandy peraharain procession. Their elaborate costumes are not an unusual site in Buddhist ceremonies across Asia where they parade through the streets carrying the sacred relics of the Buddha.\u003cbr/\u003eConservationists like Jayawardene hope to see less of this kind of manufactured colourful splendour and more of the magnificence of elephants safe in the wild. \u003cbr/\u003eThe results of the count are expected by the end of August.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='action-container flex justify-between'\u003e\n\u003cbutton aria-expanded='false' aria-label='Read more description' class='rp-full-description' type='button'\u003e\n\u003ci class='fai fa-solid fa-align-left'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cspan id='read_more'\u003eRead More\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/button\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-report'\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-labelledby='resource-details-heading' class='rp-info-section'\u003e\n\u003ch2 class='title' 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