Press release
Centre for Environmental Justice requests the Hon.President of Sri Lanka to protect the
Dahaiyagala Elephant Pass in Udawalawe
The Elephant Pass from the Udawalawe National Park to the Bogahapattiya Sanctuary is the only Elephant Pass in the Moneragala District. Due to the sanctuaries such as Udawalawe, Lunugamvehera and Bogahapattiya, this Elephant Pass is a very sensitive area and the Elephant Passage through Haldummulla is a special route for wild salt eating for Elephants.
Most of the elephant population in Sri Lanka lives in the Moneragala District, out of which about 2000 elephants are migrating in the Dahaiyagala, Bogahapattiya and Lunugamvehera areas alone.
These numbers include the herds of elephants you see as you walk through Udawalawe. Elephants also lose their lives in large numbers in this area due to various reasons and human lives are similarly lost due to the human-elephant conflict.
But we have learned that local politicians are trying to free up the Elephant Pass for human trafficking.
According to Mr. Hemantha Withanage, Executive Director of the Centre for Environmental Justice, the law prohibits anyone from committing human cruelty in a sanctuary gazetted in 2002. He points out that
if that happened then both species would not be able to survive.”
If this Dahaiyagala Elephant Pass is released for human activities,
- Creation of a new human-elephant conflict in the villages around the Udawalawe National Park.
- Increased threats to Udawalawe National Park due to human activities.
- Loss of Wild Elephant Habitat due to loss of Dahaiyagala Elephant Pass & the obstruction of Bogahapattiya Transit Road
The Centre for Environmental Justice has taken steps to inform the Hon.President of Sri Lanka on this matter & requests to not open up the sanctuary for Human related activities but to protect the sanctuary as it will have detrimental impact.