Speaking, wildlife officer in charge of the Guruwela area - W. Sanjeewa said that measures have been taken to recruit a team of 30 youths to control the situation.

Training

The team has been trained to chase the elephant without harming the creature as well as the villagers. They have also been given a practical training to identify elephant behaviour and times of elephants wandering into villages.

They are to be further trained at the Wasgamuwa National park and will be assisted by local authorities, Mr. Sanjeewa adds.

Carelessness

Around 70 people die from elephant attacks each year while the annual number of elephant deaths in the country stand at 250.

According to the Wildlife Director General - M.B. Rathnayake, 85% of such human deaths are due to carelessness of man.

Noting that the elephant is easily angered, Mr. Rathnayake says that the above percentage of deaths can be prevented if men acted in a more sensible manner instead of being careless around elephant behaviour.