Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2017-12-19

Conducting combined operations by the Wildlife, Police and Security Forces for the conservation of wild elephant population and the wildlife resources of Sri Lanka

- The Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance has vested the necessary legal authority with the Wildlife Officers and the Police Officers to ensure the protection of wildlife resources within and outside the wildlife protected areas. Management of the wild animal human conflict and related duties including the elephant-human conflict are also entrusted with the Wildlife Conservation Officers. Around 240 wild elephants die each year due to the elephant-human conflict. Meanwhile, several incidents of killing tuskers within the protected areas have been reported during the recent times.

As such, with a view to preventing the recurrence of such situations and to protect the country's elephant population including the tuskers and other wild animals within the precincts of the forests, the proposal made by Hon. Gamini Jayawickrema Perera, the Minister of Sustainable Development and Wildlife, to establish a combined task force comprising of the officers of the Department of Wildlife Conservation, the Police Special Task Force and the officers of the Security Forces and implement a field patrolling programme with the assistance of the field officers of the Department of Forest Conservation and the Sri Lanka Mahaweli Authority, in times of need, was approved by the Cabinet.

Further, the Cabinet also granted approval for the proposal made to amend the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance to make enable to impose life imprisonment on a person found guilty by a court of law for killing of wild elephants.