Sri Lanka in the dawn hours of Friday commenced its first census of elephants in all its national parks across the entire island despite a boycott by the conservationists groups.
Sri Lankan Minister of Agrarian Services and Wild Life S.M. Chandrasena ceremonially launched the survey at 4:00 am today at the Minneriya National Wildlife sanctuary.
Over 3,500 officials have been deployed to count the elephants at 1,500 waterholes and lakes as well as at places where the beasts gather normally.
The census will be conducted today and tomorrow during which the parks will be closed for visitors.
Director General of Wild Life H.D. Ratnayake said that the assistance of Indian and US specialists is being sought to get accurate figures. The Wildlife Department is providing the preliminary technological knowledge.
Conservationists have boycotted the census after Minister Chandrasena said that under a presidential directive calf elephants that could carry caskets in religious pageants would be identified during the census.
The Minister said baby elephants who would be identified for pageants are to be tamed and handed over to the temples including the famous Temple of Tooth in Kandy.
The animal welfare groups fear that the census would be used to extract healthy strong elephants to be domesticated for labor and thereby shift the natural balance of the elephant population and weaken the gene pool.
Sri Lanka's wild elephant population has dwindled in the recent years to about 5,000-6,000 elephants according to the Wild Life Department surveys, as their habitats are increasingly encroached by the human population.
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