Keeping everyone informed
Colombo, September 02 - A leopard's death at Luccombe Estate in Maskeliya has raised alarm among conservationists including the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society (WNPS).
They have no voice…….they are peppered with oozing gun-shot wounds, they are noosed causing grievous and agonizing injury and they are fed with tasty food with hakka-patas hidden within which blow off part of their jaws.
In view of World Elephant Day which falls on 12 August, Spa Ceylon together with the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society (WNPS) have organized a series of events to raise awareness on the Human-Elephant conflict and improve the resilience of affected communities in Sri Lanka. The event lineup will begin with the ‘Help Save the Majestic Ceylon Elephant Wellness Run’, at 6:00 am on 11 August from Independence Square, Colombo. Held in support of the WNPS’ conservation initiatives, this ‘City Run’ will feature a 5km run and a 2km run, where the top three runners will receive valuable gifts from Spa Ceylon and the WNPS.
Sri Lankan Leopard Day 2024 introduced Dr. Jeannine McManus, a renowned conservation expert from the Landmark Foundation in South Africa, to the Sri Lankan community dedicated to conserving the endemic Sri Lankan leopard. During her two-week visit, hosted by the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society (WNPS), Dr. McManus met with multiple stakeholders important for leopard conservation in Sri Lanka, a WNPS news release said.
On August 1 Sri Lanka celebrates Sri Lankan Leopard Day, which will be observed annually following a proposal from the Wildlife and Nature Preservation Society of Sri Lanka (WNPS), the country’s oldest (and the world’s third oldest) nature protection society. This day aims to highlight the importance of the Sri Lankan leopard, an iconic species central to the country’s wildlife tourism.
Rapid urbanisation has posed considerable challenges to the balance of sensitive ecosystems and inhabitants. Wildlife are usually at the receiving end of haphazard urbanisation. In Sri Lanka for instance, the human-leopard conflict arose over the last few years as leopard habitats were encroached, fragmented and as people expanded their territories in leopard dominated regions. In an attempt to add more weight on conserving the Sri Lankan Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) the ‘Sri Lanka Leopard Day’ was declared on August 1. As conservationists continue to stress on the importance of this charismatic keystone species, more research is being done to study the interactions between leopards and humans and minimise conflict in an increasingly shared landscape.