COLOMBO, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's Wildlife Conservation Department (DWC) on Thursday said deaths caused by the human-elephant conflict had declined in 2020 in the country after it recorded the world's highest number of elephant deaths due to human actions in the previous year, local media reported.
According to the DWC, elephant deaths had dropped by approximately 22 percent in 2020 compared to 2019.
Official statistics showed that 318 elephants were killed in 2020 compared to 407 in 2019, which ranked Sri Lanka as the world's number one country for elephant deaths due to conflicts with humans.
A total of 112 persons were killed due to elephant attacks in 2020, recording a drop of 8 percent in human deaths since 2019.
Killing wild elephants in Sri Lanka is a criminal offense but there have been regular reports of angry villagers poisoning or shooting them.
Official records show the population of wild elephants in Sri Lanka is estimated at 7,500. Enditem
