Elephant food supply smothered by release of excess water to Minneriya tank

By Ifham Nizam

The elephants living in the vicinity of Minneriya reservoir will be left without food if the amount of water released from the Moragahakanda Reservoir to the Minneriya Reservoir is not controlled by April next year, says Elephant Ethologist and renowned expert Dr. Sumit Pilapitiya.

Dr. Pilapitiya, who is the former Director General of Wildlife Conservation earlier had to resign due to a number of stumbling blocks, but he now heads the Presidential Task Force on Human-Elephant Conflict.

Speaking to The Island on the sidelines of the event organised at Habarana Cinnamon Lodge, he said 300–400 elephant population in the Minneriya lake grounds had dropped to 100-200 as grasslands are now covered with water.

Dr. Pilapitiya added that at a discussion about three weeks back, the Secretary to the Ministry of Irrigation had pledged to make a policy decision to limit the quantity of water released to the Minneriya tanks starting the following year.

He said that the elephant population in the Minneriya tank grounds had declined since the construction of the Moragahakanda reservoir.

The purpose of the Moragahakanda Reservoir project was not to provide water to Minneriya but rather to the North Central, North West, and other areas via a 27 km tunnel, Dr. Pilapitiya pointed out.