Colombo: Elephants’ lives are threatened by an open dump of plastic waste in the village of Pallakkad in eastern Sri Lanka. Within a week, two elephants had been knocked down by plastic debris.
Pallakkad is a village located in the Ampara District, 210 km east of Colombo. It is estimated that about 20 elephants have been killed in the last eight years by eating plastic from garbage dumps here. According to postmortem reports, the victims died after consuming large quantities of non-recyclable plastic waste. Indigestible items, including polythene, food parcels and plastic bags, were found inside the elephants.
The number of elephants in Sri Lanka is currently declining. The number dropped from 14,000 in the 19th century to 6,000 in 2011. Loss of natural habitat poses a challenge to the survival of elephants. Landing in populated areas for food is also life threatening. Unable to bear the hunger, the elephants target the waste heap. The plastic and sharp objects obtained from here damage the digestive system of the elephants.
Although the government announced in 2017 that it would stop waste treatment near wildlife areas and install electric fences to keep animals away from areas where waste is dumped, it has not been fully implemented.
There are 54 landfills near the wildlife sanctuary across the country. About 300 elephants live here. Pallakkad waste treatment was started in 2008. Garbage collected from nearby areas is dumped here. In 2014, the electric fence here broke down. The elephants started coming here when the authorities were not ready to repair it.
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