COLOMBO, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) will carry out a two-day survey on wild elephants next month in order to record the number of elephants in the island country, local media reports said here Thursday.
The survey will be conducted on Sept. 13 and 14 to record the number of elephants and to categorize the population according to their gender, age and the number of tuskers, Director General of DWC, C Sooriyabandara said in a statement.
The last such survey was carried out in 2011 and the population of wild elephants then had been reported at 5,879, including 122 tuskers and 1,107 calves.
The 2011 survey was restricted to habitats around water reservoirs during the dry season.
Sooriyabandara said the DWC will deploy over 7,000 wildlife officials to conduct next month's survey which will cover 2,000 habitats.
Next month's survey will also be conducted in the north and east.
Sri Lanka has a large elephant population and these animals are protected by law.
Killing wild elephants is an offence punishable by death, but there have been regular reports of angry villagers poisoning or shooting them.
