{"id":1159,"date":"2026-05-16T11:47:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T11:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/?p=1159"},"modified":"2026-05-16T11:47:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T11:47:21","slug":"elephants-eat-their-crops-farmers-strike-back-its-a-war-thats-only-getting-worse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/?p=1159","title":{"rendered":"Elephants eat their crops. Farmers strike back. It&#8217;s a war that&#8217;s only getting worse"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"slug-wrap\">\n<h3 class=\"slug\">\n        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/global-health\/\">Global Health<\/a><br \/>\n    <\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"storytitle\">\n<h1>Elephants eat their crops. Farmers strike back. It&#8217;s a war that&#8217;s only getting worse<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- END CLASS=\"STORYTITLE\" --><\/p>\n<div id=\"story-meta\" class=\"story-meta has-byline\">\n<div class=\"story-meta__one\">\n<div class=\"story-meta__one-inner\">\n<div class=\"dateblock\">\n    <time datetime=\"2026-05-16T07:19:25-04:00\"><br \/>\n            <span class=\"date\">May 16, 2026<\/span><span class=\"time\">7:19 AM ET<\/span><br \/>\n    <\/time>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- END CLASS=\"STORY-META__ONE-INNER\" -->\n   <\/div>\n<p><!-- END CLASS=\"STORY-META__ONE\" --><\/p>\n<div class=\"story-meta__two\">\n<div id=\"storybyline\" class=\"storybyline-wrap linkLocation\">\n<div class=\"bucketwrap byline\">\n<div class=\"byline-container--block byline-container--block-nophoto\">\n<p class=\"byline__name--block\">By\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"byline byline--block byline--has-link\" aria-label=\"Byline\">\n<div class=\"byline__photo\">\n      <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/people\/536641200\/diaa-hadid\" rel=\"author\"><br \/>\n        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/npr.brightspotcdn.com\/dims3\/default\/strip\/false\/crop\/2316x2316+0+0\/resize\/100\/quality\/85\/format\/jpeg\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F12%2F98%2F2e800e644281b00c8c7efc3ec2cd%2Fdiaa-hadid.jpeg\" class=\"img\" alt=\"Headshot of Diaa Hadid\" data-template=\"https:\/\/npr.brightspotcdn.com\/dims3\/default\/strip\/false\/crop\/2316x2316+0+0\/resize\/{width}\/quality\/{quality}\/format\/{format}\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F12%2F98%2F2e800e644281b00c8c7efc3ec2cd%2Fdiaa-hadid.jpeg\" data-format=\"jpeg\"><br \/>\n      <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<p class=\"byline__name byline__name--block\">\n      <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/people\/536641200\/diaa-hadid\" rel=\"author\"><br \/>\n      Diaa Hadid<br \/>\n    <\/a>\n  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"byline__name--block byline__comma\">,\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"byline byline--block byline--has-link\" aria-label=\"Byline\">\n<p class=\"byline__name byline__name--block\">\n      <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/people\/g-s1-121813\/susitha-fernando\" rel=\"author\"><br \/>\n      Susitha Fernando<br \/>\n    <\/a>\n  <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- END CLASS=\"BUCKETWRAP BYLINE\" -->\n      <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- END CLASS=\"STORY-META__TWO\" -->\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- END ID=\"STORY-META\" CLASS=\"STORY-META HAS-BYLINE\" --><\/p>\n<div id=\"headlineaudio\" class=\"storylocation linkLocation\">\n<article id=\"resnx-s1-9763724\" class=\"bucketwrap resaudio\" aria-label=\"audio-module\">\n<div class=\"audio-module\">\n<h4 class=\"audio-module-title\">Mideast war worsens conflict between elephants and villagers in Sri Lanka<\/h4>\n<div class=\"audio-module-controls-wrap\" data-audio='{\"uid\":\"g-s1-121654:nx-s1-9763724\",\"available\":true,\"duration\":321,\"title\":\"Mideast war worsens conflict between elephants and villagers in Sri Lanka\",\"audioUrl\":\"https:\/\/ondemand.npr.org\/anon.npr-mp3\/npr\/atc\/2026\/05\/20260509_atc_mideast_war_worsens_conflict_between_elephants_and_villagers_in_sri_lanka.mp3?t=progseg&amp;e=nx-s1-5759769&amp;p=2&amp;seg=4&amp;d=321&amp;size=5149302&amp;sc=siteplayer\",\"storyUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2026\/05\/16\/g-s1-121654\/elephants-farmers-crops-sri-lanka\",\"slug\":\"global health\",\"program\":\"\",\"affiliation\":\"\",\"song\":\"\",\"artist\":\"\",\"album\":\"\",\"track\":0,\"type\":\"segment\",\"subtype\":\"other\",\"skipSponsorship\":false,\"hasAdsWizz\":false,\"isStreamAudioType\":false,\"podcastEpisodeRawType\":\"\",\"podcastEpisodeDerivedPlusType\":\"\"}' data-audio-metrics=\"[]\">\n<div class=\"audio-module-controls audio-module-controls--no-js\">\n            <a class=\"audio-module-listen\" href=\"https:\/\/ondemand.npr.org\/anon.npr-mp3\/npr\/atc\/2026\/05\/20260509_atc_mideast_war_worsens_conflict_between_elephants_and_villagers_in_sri_lanka.mp3?t=progseg&amp;e=nx-s1-5759769&amp;p=2&amp;seg=4&amp;d=321&amp;size=5149302&amp;sc=siteplayer&amp;aw_0_1st.playerid=siteplayer\"><br \/>\n                <b class=\"audio-module-listen-inner\"><br \/>\n                    <b class=\"audio-module-listen-text\"><br \/>\n                        <b class=\"audio-module-cta\"><br \/>\n                            Listen<br \/>\n                        <\/b><br \/>\n                        <b class=\"audio-module-listen-duration\"><br \/>\n                            <span>\u00b7 <\/span><br \/>\n                            <span>5:21<\/span><br \/>\n                        <\/b><br \/>\n                    <\/b><br \/>\n                <\/b><br \/>\n            <\/a><br \/>\n                <time class=\"audio-module-duration\" datetime=\"P5M,21S\"><br \/>\n                  <span class=\"audio-module-duration__initial-value\">5:21<\/span><br \/>\n                <\/time>\n        <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"audio-module-tools\">\n            <a class=\"audio-tool audio-tool-transcript\" href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/transcripts\/g-s1-121654\" data-metrics-ga4='{\"category\":\"audio\",\"action\":\"audio_click_transcript\",\"storyId\":\"g-s1-121654\",\"mediaId\":\"nx-s1-9763724\",\"title\":\"Elephants eat their crops. Farmers strike back. It&amp;#39;s a war that&amp;#39;s only getting worse\",\"type\":\"ondemand\"}'><br \/>\n                <b class=\"audio-tool-label\">Transcript<\/b><br \/>\n            <\/a><br \/>\n        <button class=\"audio-module-tools-toggle\" data-metrics-ga4='{\"category\":\"audio\",\"action\":\"audio_open_more_options\",\"storyId\":\"g-s1-121654\",\"mediaId\":\"nx-s1-9763724\",\"title\":\"Elephants eat their crops. Farmers strike back. It&amp;#39;s a war that&amp;#39;s only getting worse\",\"type\":\"ondemand\"}'><br \/>\n            <b class=\"label\">Toggle more options<\/b><br \/>\n        <\/button><\/p>\n<ul class=\"audio-module-more-tools\">\n<li class=\"audio-tool audio-tool-download\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ondemand.npr.org\/anon.npr-mp3\/npr\/atc\/2026\/05\/20260509_atc_mideast_war_worsens_conflict_between_elephants_and_villagers_in_sri_lanka.mp3?t=progseg&amp;e=nx-s1-5759769&amp;p=2&amp;seg=4&amp;d=321&amp;size=5149302&amp;sc=siteplayer&amp;aw_0_1st.playerid=siteplayer\" data-metrics-ga4='{\"category\":\"audio\",\"action\":\"audio_download\",\"storyId\":\"g-s1-121654\",\"mediaId\":\"nx-s1-9763724\",\"title\":\"Elephants eat their crops. Farmers strike back. It&amp;#39;s a war that&amp;#39;s only getting worse\",\"type\":\"ondemand\"}'><b class=\"audio-tool-label\">Download<\/b><\/a>\n                <\/li>\n<li class=\"audio-tool audio-tool-embed\">\n                    <button data-embed-url=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/player\/embed\/g-s1-121654\/nx-s1-9763724\" data-metrics-ga4='{\"category\":\"audio\",\"action\":\"audio_embed\",\"storyId\":\"g-s1-121654\",\"mediaId\":\"nx-s1-9763724\",\"title\":\"Elephants eat their crops. Farmers strike back. It&amp;#39;s a war that&amp;#39;s only getting worse\",\"type\":\"ondemand\"}'><b class=\"button-inner\"><b class=\"audio-tool-label\">Embed<\/b><\/b><\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"audio-embed-overlay\">\n                        <label class=\"embed-label\"><br \/>\n                            <b class=\"label\">Embed<\/b><\/p>\n<p>                        <\/label><br \/>\n                        <b class=\"embed-url embed-url-touch\"><br \/>\n                            <code><b class=\"punctuation\">&lt;<\/b>iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/player\/embed\/g-s1-121654\/nx-s1-9763724\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" title=\"NPR embedded audio player\"&gt;<\/code><br \/>\n                        <\/b>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"audio-tool audio-tool-transcript\">\n                  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/transcripts\/g-s1-121654\" data-metrics-ga4='{\"category\":\"audio\",\"action\":\"audio_click_transcript\",\"storyId\":\"g-s1-121654\",\"mediaId\":\"nx-s1-9763724\",\"title\":\"Elephants eat their crops. Farmers strike back. It&amp;#39;s a war that&amp;#39;s only getting worse\",\"type\":\"ondemand\"}'><br \/>\n                    <b class=\"audio-tool-label\">Transcript<\/b><br \/>\n                  <\/a>\n                <\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"storytext\" class=\"storytext storylocation linkLocation\">\n<div id=\"resg-s1-121850\" class=\"bucketwrap image x-large\">\n<div class=\"imagewrap has-source-dimensions\" data-crop-type=\"\" style=\"--source-width: 7285;--source-height: 5464\">\n<p>            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/npr.brightspotcdn.com\/dims3\/default\/strip\/false\/crop\/7285x5464+205+0\/resize\/1100\/quality\/50\/format\/jpeg\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F6e%2Ff1%2F616691d8401e95a3e0bddd3fb981%2Fsri-lanka-elephants-2022506109.jpg\" data-template=\"https:\/\/npr.brightspotcdn.com\/dims3\/default\/strip\/false\/crop\/7285x5464+205+0\/resize\/{width}\/quality\/{quality}\/format\/{format}\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F6e%2Ff1%2F616691d8401e95a3e0bddd3fb981%2Fsri-lanka-elephants-2022506109.jpg\" class=\"img\" alt=\"YALA NATIONAL PARK, SRI LANKA, 10TH JULY 2022: A bull male elephant is seen meticulously dismantling an electric fence inside Yala National Park. These large males have no problem breaking through fences but this particular male has developed a delicate technique where he does not even need to break the fence but uses the fence poles to lay the wires flat and then simply step over them. The breaking of fences by male adult elephant is a daily ritual in most parks in Sri Lanka. The fences inside national parks in Sri Lanka keep female elephants and younger elephants inside the parks, male elephants break the fence regularly and access other food sources, some of which are grown by humans. 60 % of Sri Lankas elephants live outside of her national parks and are generally healthier than those inside parks as they have more varied food sources. Conservationist observers in these parks state that many of the females in parks are smaller than females outside of the parks and that there is a higher death rate for calves.\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"credit-caption\">\n<div class=\"caption-wrap\">\n<div class=\"caption\" aria-label=\"Image caption\">\n<p>\n                A bull male elephant is seen meticulously dismantling an electric fence inside Yala National Park in Sri Lanka. Elephants are often herded into parks to keep them from eating the crops of farmers, but the pachyderms have figured out how to manipulate the wooden fence poles to lay the wires flat and then step over them.<br \/>\n                <b class=\"credit\" aria-label=\"Image credit\"><br \/>\n                    Brent Stirton\/Getty Images\/Reportage Archive<br \/>\n                <\/b><br \/>\n                <b class=\"hide-caption\"><b>hide caption<\/b><\/b>\n            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>            <b class=\"toggle-caption\"><b>toggle caption<\/b><\/b>\n    <\/div>\n<p>    <span class=\"credit\" aria-label=\"Image credit\"><br \/>\n        Brent Stirton\/Getty Images\/Reportage Archive<br \/>\n    <\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>DAMBULLA, Sri Lanka \u2013- On a break, farmer Gunasinghe Kapuga draws on a cigarette and describes relations between farmers and elephants that raid their fields in the central Sri Lankan district of Matale: &#8220;Obviously, it&#8217;s war.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He&#8217;s referring to increasingly deadly encounters between farmers and pachyderms.<\/p>\n<p>Now Kapuga fears that the latest Mideast war will intensify that conflict \u2014 because the war is pushing up the price of fuel and fertilizer, so farmers are spending more to plant less. And he believes that means farmers will be more vigilant in attacking elephants who raid their fields: &#8220;More elephants will die or more farmers will die.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Already, the stakes are high. Kapuga nods to men digging mud out of shin-deep water, preparing the paddy fields for planting rice. The other day, an elephant wandered onto this very field. Kapuga points to a young man: &#8220;He fearlessly chased the elephant away, he ran after it with a flashing torch and threw firecrackers at it,&#8221; he says. &#8220;Some elephants turn around \u2014 and attack. It&#8217;s a really dangerous task.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div id=\"resg-s1-121909\" class=\"bucketwrap image x-large\">\n<div class=\"imagewrap has-source-dimensions\" data-crop-type=\"\" style=\"--source-width: 5616;--source-height: 3744\">\n<p>            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/npr.brightspotcdn.com\/dims3\/default\/strip\/false\/crop\/5616x3744+0+0\/resize\/1100\/quality\/50\/format\/jpeg\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F22%2F4c%2Fdb234c144ae7a6b0a4a0c559fcb8%2Fsri-lanka-elephants-0563.jpg\" data-template=\"https:\/\/npr.brightspotcdn.com\/dims3\/default\/strip\/false\/crop\/5616x3744+0+0\/resize\/{width}\/quality\/{quality}\/format\/{format}\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F22%2F4c%2Fdb234c144ae7a6b0a4a0c559fcb8%2Fsri-lanka-elephants-0563.jpg\" class=\"img\" alt=\"Farmers plough a rice paddy field in the central Sri Lankan district of Matale, where elephant raids are a serious problem. Conflict between farmers and elephants has grown increasingly deadly in Sri Lanka. Most of the island\u2019s 7,400 elephants freely roam across the country \u2014 but governments have transformed traditional elephant grazing areas to farmlands. Elephants have both lost grazing grounds \u2014 and they\u2019re attracted to crops. Farmers are being killed as they try protect their fields; elephants are being killed by gunshot, electrocution and by bombs concealed in food that shatter elephants\u2019 mouths and cause them to die, painfully, of starvation.\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"credit-caption\">\n<div class=\"caption-wrap\">\n<div class=\"caption\" aria-label=\"Image caption\">\n<p>\n                Farmers plough a rice paddy field in the central Sri Lankan district of Matale, where elephant raids are a serious problem. Most of the island&#8217;s 7,400 elephants freely roam across the country. But governments have transformed traditional elephant grazing areas to farmlands. Farmers are being killed as they try protect their fields; elephants are being killed by gunshot, electrocution and by bombs concealed in food that shatter elephants&#8217; mouths and cause them to die of starvation.<br \/>\n                <b class=\"credit\" aria-label=\"Image credit\"><br \/>\n                    Diaa Hadid\/NPR<br \/>\n                <\/b><br \/>\n                <b class=\"hide-caption\"><b>hide caption<\/b><\/b>\n            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>            <b class=\"toggle-caption\"><b>toggle caption<\/b><\/b>\n    <\/div>\n<p>    <span class=\"credit\" aria-label=\"Image credit\"><br \/>\n        Diaa Hadid\/NPR<br \/>\n    <\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Sometimes, those elephants kill farmers. And farmers kill elephants by gunshot, electrocution and jaw bombs \u2014 explosives hidden in food that shatter an elephant&#8217;s jaws so the animal starves to death. Killing elephants is illegal in Sri Lanka, and yet not only is it happening, but the methods suggest desperation, says <a href=\"https:\/\/www.res.cmb.ac.lk\/zoology\/devaka-weerakoon\/\" target=\"_blank\"><u>Devaka Weerakoon<\/u><\/a>, a zoology professor at Colombo University. &#8220;These are very inhumane ways of killing,&#8221; he says. But &#8220;our farmers are not resilient. Two failed crops means they are completely busted.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>These encounters represent an increasingly sour chapter in human-elephant relations in Sri Lanka \u2014 an island where these animals have long been revered by Buddhist and Hindu communities. Most of the island&#8217;s 7,400 Asian elephants live freely, near farms and settlements that are home to some 22 million people.<\/p>\n<div id=\"resg-s1-121907\" class=\"bucketwrap image x-large\">\n<div class=\"imagewrap has-source-dimensions\" data-crop-type=\"\" style=\"--source-width: 5316;--source-height: 3544\">\n<p>            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/npr.brightspotcdn.com\/dims3\/default\/strip\/false\/crop\/5316x3544+0+0\/resize\/1100\/quality\/50\/format\/jpeg\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F3d%2F52%2F52a130574a7aa8f725460eea06c2%2Fsri-lanka-elephants-0887.jpg\" data-template=\"https:\/\/npr.brightspotcdn.com\/dims3\/default\/strip\/false\/crop\/5316x3544+0+0\/resize\/{width}\/quality\/{quality}\/format\/{format}\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F3d%2F52%2F52a130574a7aa8f725460eea06c2%2Fsri-lanka-elephants-0887.jpg\" class=\"img\" alt=\"Elephants graze in the Hurulu Eco Park in the central Sri Lankan district of Habarana. Conflict between farmers and elephants has grown increasingly deadly in Sri Lanka. Most of the island\u2019s 7,400 elephants freely roam across the country \u2014 but about a third live in national parks, but officials and conservationists say there\u2019s not enough food for herds there to eat, and so they frequently break out to raid farmers\u2019 fields, destroying their crops. Farmers are being killed as they try protect their fields; elephants are being killed by gunshot, electrocution and by bombs concealed in food that shatter elephants\u2019 mouths and cause them to die, painfully, of starvation.\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"credit-caption\">\n<div class=\"caption-wrap\">\n<div class=\"caption\" aria-label=\"Image caption\">\n<p>\n                Elephants graze in the Hurulu Eco Park in the central Sri Lankan district of Habarana.   Conflict between farmers and elephants has grown increasingly deadly.<br \/>\n                <b class=\"credit\" aria-label=\"Image credit\"><br \/>\n                    Diaa Hadid\/NPR<br \/>\n                <\/b><br \/>\n                <b class=\"hide-caption\"><b>hide caption<\/b><\/b>\n            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>            <b class=\"toggle-caption\"><b>toggle caption<\/b><\/b>\n    <\/div>\n<p>    <span class=\"credit\" aria-label=\"Image credit\"><br \/>\n        Diaa Hadid\/NPR<br \/>\n    <\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The data illustrates the severity of this burgeoning crisis. Sri Lanka&#8217;s wildlife conservation authority shows an escalation from 255 elephants killed in 2011 to 488 killed in 2023. Elephant attacks on farmers have more than doubled: from 60 in 2011 to 188 in 2023.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"edTag\"><strong>What&#8217;s driving the conflict?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>One reason for the trend is the changing nature of farming in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n<p>Traditionally, farmers have relied on rainy season precipitation to water their crops. They&#8217;d plant once a year \u2014 and say it was relatively easy to chase elephants away. The land would then lie fallow until the next rainy season so elephants could graze without threatening the farmers&#8217; livelihood.<\/p>\n<p>Over the past few decades, improved irrigation methods have enabled farmers to cultivate multiple crops a year on the same plot of land. Those farmed crops are attractive to elephants, say experts, because they&#8217;re tastier and more nutritious than what they&#8217;d consume elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>The elephants raid the fields \u2014 and the farmers retaliate. &#8220;It&#8217;s sort of an arms race,&#8221; says <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ccrsl.org\/personnel\/dr-prithiviraj-fernando\" target=\"_blank\">Prithiviraj Fernando<\/a>, chairman of the Sri Lanka-based Center for Conservation and Research, and an elephant expert. The elephants, he says, adapt to the firecrackers and torches brandished by farmers. Finally, he says, you end up with farmers &#8220;shooting the elephants.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The government has long deployed &#8220;elephant drives&#8221; as a solution \u2014 using fire crackers, gunfire and drones to corral elephants and drive them into national parks, which are surrounded by electric fences to keep the animals penned in and away from farmlands.<\/p>\n<p>But elephants learn pretty quickly which parts of a fence won&#8217;t shock them \u2014 like the wooden posts that keep the fence wires up. And they&#8217;re motivated to escape, experts and government officials acknowledge, because there&#8217;s not enough food in the forests. &#8220;They are coming toward villages, because inside forest areas, the elephant density [is] already saturated,&#8221; says <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/manjula-amararathna-8930a6258\/?originalSubdomain=lk\" target=\"_blank\"><u>Manjula Amararathna<\/u><\/a>, a senior director at Sri Lanka&#8217;s department of wildlife conservation.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"edTag\"><strong>Sleepless elephant nights<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>As tensions continue to rise, farmer Gaamini Disanaayake, who lives near the village of Bambaragahawatte in central Sri Lanka, says fear of elephants is keeping him awake at night.<\/p>\n<p>Literally.<\/p>\n<div id=\"resg-s1-121911\" class=\"bucketwrap image x-large\">\n<div class=\"imagewrap has-source-dimensions\" data-crop-type=\"\" style=\"--source-width: 5616;--source-height: 3744\">\n<p>            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/npr.brightspotcdn.com\/dims3\/default\/strip\/false\/crop\/5616x3744+0+0\/resize\/1100\/quality\/50\/format\/jpeg\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F5a%2Fd7%2Ff3246315447da7673c62c1d0cb98%2Fsri-lanka-elephants-0733.jpg\" data-template=\"https:\/\/npr.brightspotcdn.com\/dims3\/default\/strip\/false\/crop\/5616x3744+0+0\/resize\/{width}\/quality\/{quality}\/format\/{format}\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F5a%2Fd7%2Ff3246315447da7673c62c1d0cb98%2Fsri-lanka-elephants-0733.jpg\" class=\"img\" alt=\"Gamini Disanaayake repairs his treehouse which perches over a field in the central Sri Lankan district of Naula, where elephant raids are a serious problem. These treehouses dot rural Sri Lanka, where farmers keep sentry overnight, to chase out elephants who typically raid crops at night. Conflict between farmers and elephants has grown increasingly deadly in Sri Lanka. Most of the island\u2019s 7,400 elephants freely roam across the country \u2014 but governments have transformed traditional elephant grazing areas to farmlands. Elephants have both lost grazing grounds \u2014 and they\u2019re attracted to crops. Farmers are being killed as they try protect their fields; elephants are being killed by gunshot, electrocution and by bombs concealed in food that shatter elephants\u2019 mouths and cause them to die, painfully, of starvation. Image by Diaa Hadid, Matale, Sri Lanka, April 2026\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"credit-caption\">\n<div class=\"caption-wrap\">\n<div class=\"caption\" aria-label=\"Image caption\">\n<p>\n                Gamini Disanaayake repairs his treehouse, which perches over a field in the central Sri Lankan district of Naula. These treehouses dot rural Sri Lanka, where farmers keep sentry overnight to chase out elephants who typically raid crops after dark.<br \/>\n                <b class=\"credit\" aria-label=\"Image credit\"><br \/>\n                    Diaa Hadid\/NPR<br \/>\n                <\/b><br \/>\n                <b class=\"hide-caption\"><b>hide caption<\/b><\/b>\n            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>            <b class=\"toggle-caption\"><b>toggle caption<\/b><\/b>\n    <\/div>\n<p>    <span class=\"credit\" aria-label=\"Image credit\"><br \/>\n        Diaa Hadid\/NPR<br \/>\n    <\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Disanaayake says the previous evening, he encountered an elephant in his field, hurled some firecrackers and it went away. He&#8217;d spotted the elephant from a rickety treehouse of rough nailed planks some 12 feet off the ground.<\/p>\n<p>He sentries here through the night. Thousands of other farmers perch in variations of these treehouses, which dot the landscape of central Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n<p>Disanaayake says elephant raids are just one hardship for the island&#8217;s farmers. They&#8217;ve struggled through back-to-back-crises \u2014 including a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/markets\/commodities\/sri-lanka-rows-back-organic-farming-goal-removes-ban-chemical-fertilisers-2021-11-24\/\" target=\"_blank\"><u>sudden government<\/u><\/a> ban on fertilizers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.global-agriculture.com\/global-agriculture\/sri-lankas-organic-farming-experiment-how-a-nationwide-fertilizer-ban-triggered-an-agricultural-and-economic-crisis\/\" target=\"_blank\"><u>to prevent hard currency<\/u><\/a> from being spent abroad at a time when it risked defaulting on its debts. It was reversed after an outcry as the ban collapsed crop yields. Shortly afterward, fuel prices surged as the country defaulted on its debts. Then last year, a cyclone smashed through fields just after planting began.<\/p>\n<div id=\"resg-s1-121913\" class=\"bucketwrap image x-large\">\n<div class=\"imagewrap has-source-dimensions\" data-crop-type=\"\" style=\"--source-width: 5616;--source-height: 3744\">\n<p>            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/npr.brightspotcdn.com\/dims3\/default\/strip\/false\/crop\/5616x3744+0+0\/resize\/1100\/quality\/50\/format\/jpeg\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F7b%2F69%2F56e8eab54276b5c1609e4bc9df2c%2Fsri-lanka-elephants-0622.jpg\" data-template=\"https:\/\/npr.brightspotcdn.com\/dims3\/default\/strip\/false\/crop\/5616x3744+0+0\/resize\/{width}\/quality\/{quality}\/format\/{format}\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F7b%2F69%2F56e8eab54276b5c1609e4bc9df2c%2Fsri-lanka-elephants-0622.jpg\" class=\"img\" alt=\"A treehouse perches over a field in the central Sri Lankan district of Matale, where elephant raids are a serious problem. These treehouses dot rural Sri Lanka, where farmers keep sentry overnight, to chase out elephants who typically raid crops at night. Conflict between farmers and elephants has grown increasingly deadly in Sri Lanka. Most of the island\u2019s 7,400 elephants freely roam across the country \u2014 but governments have transformed traditional elephant grazing areas to farmlands. Elephants have both lost grazing grounds \u2014 and they\u2019re attracted to crops. Farmers are being killed as they try protect their fields; elephants are being killed by gunshot, electrocution and by bombs concealed in food that shatter elephants\u2019 mouths and cause them to die, painfully, of starvation.\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"credit-caption\">\n<div class=\"caption-wrap\">\n<div class=\"caption\" aria-label=\"Image caption\">\n<p>\n                A treehouse that&#8217;s used by a farmer to keep an eye out for elephants who come to raid crops.<br \/>\n                <b class=\"credit\" aria-label=\"Image credit\"><br \/>\n                    Diaa Hadid\/NPR<br \/>\n                <\/b><br \/>\n                <b class=\"hide-caption\"><b>hide caption<\/b><\/b>\n            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>            <b class=\"toggle-caption\"><b>toggle caption<\/b><\/b>\n    <\/div>\n<p>    <span class=\"credit\" aria-label=\"Image credit\"><br \/>\n        Diaa Hadid\/NPR<br \/>\n    <\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;When those crises happened we had money and enough food to eat,&#8221; says Disanaayake. But then came the Mideast war.  &#8220;We are in such a desperate situation,&#8221; he says.<\/p>\n<p>Although fighting largely subsided weeks ago, the Strait of Hormuz, remains blocked. Sri Lanka is heavily reliant on fuel and fertilizer that was shipped through the strait.<\/p>\n<p>The price of a bag of fertilizer has more than doubled in Disanaayake&#8217;s area, from the equivalent of $15 dollars, to $37 dollars.<\/p>\n<p>Disanaayake says he borrowed money to buy enough fertilizer for his mung bean crop \u2014 then bean prices collapsed as the market flooded with produce. <\/p>\n<div id=\"resg-s1-121916\" class=\"bucketwrap image large\">\n<div class=\"imagewrap has-source-dimensions\" data-crop-type=\"\" style=\"--source-width: 3744;--source-height: 5616\">\n<p>            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/npr.brightspotcdn.com\/dims3\/default\/strip\/false\/crop\/3744x5616+0+0\/resize\/1100\/quality\/50\/format\/jpeg\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ff5%2Fcd%2F24c2b1434a6698e2c87641364749%2Fsri-lanka-elephants-0778.jpg\" data-template=\"https:\/\/npr.brightspotcdn.com\/dims3\/default\/strip\/false\/crop\/3744x5616+0+0\/resize\/{width}\/quality\/{quality}\/format\/{format}\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ff5%2Fcd%2F24c2b1434a6698e2c87641364749%2Fsri-lanka-elephants-0778.jpg\" class=\"img\" alt=\"Gamini Disanaayake repairs his treehouse which perches over a field in the central Sri Lankan district of Naula, where elephant raids are a serious problem. These treehouses dot rural Sri Lanka, where farmers keep sentry overnight, to chase out elephants who typically raid crops at night. Conflict between farmers and elephants has grown increasingly deadly in Sri Lanka. Most of the island\u2019s 7,400 elephants freely roam across the country \u2014 but governments have transformed traditional elephant grazing areas to farmlands. Elephants have both lost grazing grounds \u2014 and they\u2019re attracted to crops. Farmers are being killed as they try protect their fields; elephants are being killed by gunshot, electrocution and by bombs concealed in food that shatter elephants\u2019 mouths and cause them to die, painfully, of starvation.\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"credit-caption\">\n<div class=\"caption-wrap\">\n<div class=\"caption\" aria-label=\"Image caption\">\n<p>\n                Farmer Gamini Disanaayake repairs the treehouse he uses to watch for elephant raids on his crops.<br \/>\n                <b class=\"credit\" aria-label=\"Image credit\"><br \/>\n                    Diaa Hadid\/NPR<br \/>\n                <\/b><br \/>\n                <b class=\"hide-caption\"><b>hide caption<\/b><\/b>\n            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>            <b class=\"toggle-caption\"><b>toggle caption<\/b><\/b>\n    <\/div>\n<p>    <span class=\"credit\" aria-label=\"Image credit\"><br \/>\n        Diaa Hadid\/NPR<br \/>\n    <\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>He echoes what farmer Kapuga says \u2014 that the Mideast war will make farmers more desperate to keep elephants away from their diminished supply of crops.<\/p>\n<p>But he sympathizes with the elephants&#8217; dilemma: &#8220;Elephants don&#8217;t have anything to eat in the forest, and that&#8217;s why they are coming here. We feel sorry for them.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The problem is, he says, &#8220;we also don&#8217;t have any other way to feed our children. This is a conflict with two victims.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The rain and wind pick up. The tin sheets of the treehouse roof flap wildly.<\/p>\n<p>The next day, Dissanayake tells us that the winds ripped off the treehouse roof. So he had to sleep at home. He returned to his field at dawn to find that elephants had trampled his mung bean crops.<\/p>\n<p>Near his field, he shows us the electric fence that marks the boundary of a national park. An elephant&#8217;s muddy footprint is on a wooden pole of the fence, pushed to the ground. Dissanayake quickly gathers palm leaves he has woven together and begins repairing his treehouse roof.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a huge, huge, difficult task to manage this issue,&#8221; says <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/manjula-amararathna-8930a6258\/?originalSubdomain=lk\" target=\"_blank\"><u>Amararathna<\/u><\/a>, the senior director at Sri Lanka&#8217;s department of wildlife conservation. He says they&#8217;re deploying methods that conservationists champion, like creating a new category of national park where farmers can practice traditional methods of growing crops only during rainy season, which allows elephants to graze on fallow land for months after a harvest. Critics say the government is still also deploying methods that they argue are counterproductive, like those elephant drives.<\/p>\n<div id=\"resg-s1-121923\" class=\"bucketwrap image x-large\">\n<div class=\"imagewrap has-source-dimensions\" data-crop-type=\"\" style=\"--source-width: 5616;--source-height: 3744\">\n<p>            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/npr.brightspotcdn.com\/dims3\/default\/strip\/false\/crop\/5616x3744+0+0\/resize\/1100\/quality\/50\/format\/jpeg\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fce%2Fdc%2F4e5920824d05b45dac7b72b43ba7%2Fsri-lanka-elephants-1031.jpg\" data-template=\"https:\/\/npr.brightspotcdn.com\/dims3\/default\/strip\/false\/crop\/5616x3744+0+0\/resize\/{width}\/quality\/{quality}\/format\/{format}\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fce%2Fdc%2F4e5920824d05b45dac7b72b43ba7%2Fsri-lanka-elephants-1031.jpg\" class=\"img\" alt=\"Gamini Disanaayake shows an offering he is making to the local demigod that is worshiped in these parts of central Sri Lanka, where elephant raids are a serious problem. Conflict between farmers and elephants has grown increasingly deadly in Sri Lanka. Most of the island\u2019s 7,400 elephants freely roam across the country \u2014 but governments have transformed traditional elephant grazing areas to farmlands. Elephants have both lost grazing grounds \u2014 and they\u2019re attracted to crops. Farmers are being killed as they try protect their fields; elephants are being killed by gunshot, electrocution and by bombs concealed in food that shatter elephants\u2019 mouths and cause them to die, painfully, of starvation.\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"credit-caption\">\n<div class=\"caption-wrap\">\n<div class=\"caption\" aria-label=\"Image caption\">\n<p>\n                Gamini Disanaayake, a farmer in Sri Lanka, shows an offering he is making to the local demigod in the hope that his prayer will keep elephants from raiding his fields.<br \/>\n                <b class=\"credit\" aria-label=\"Image credit\"><br \/>\n                    Diaa Hadid\/NPR<br \/>\n                <\/b><br \/>\n                <b class=\"hide-caption\"><b>hide caption<\/b><\/b>\n            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>            <b class=\"toggle-caption\"><b>toggle caption<\/b><\/b>\n    <\/div>\n<p>    <span class=\"credit\" aria-label=\"Image credit\"><br \/>\n        Diaa Hadid\/NPR<br \/>\n    <\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Back in Bambaragahawatte, farmer Gamini Disanaayake has returned to his field with his wife. He&#8217;s trying another way to keep elephants at bay: They&#8217;re making an offering to the divine to protect their field \u2014 rice boiled in sweetened coconut milk that was consecrated to the Buddha before planting began. It&#8217;s wrapped up in a leaf alongside a sweet banana. It&#8217;s for King Mahasin, a demigod worshipped through the valleys and forests in this area.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m praying to protect my field, my life,&#8221; Disanaayake smiles, &#8220;and the elephant, that he too, won&#8217;t be harmed.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tags\">\n<ul>\n<li><a class=\"tag tag--story\" href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/tags\/133305649\/elephants\">Elephants<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"tag tag--story\" href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/tags\/140717695\/farmers\">farmers<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"tag tag--story\" href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/tags\/175403273\/sri-lanka\">Sri Lanka<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- END CLASS=\"TAGS\" --><\/p>\n<div class=\"share-tools share-tools--secondary\" aria-label=\"Share tools\">\n<ul>\n<li class=\"share-tools__service share-tools__service--facebook\"><button class=\"fbStoryg-s1-121654\" data-share-facebook='{\"storyId\": \"g-s1-121654\" }' data-metrics-ga4='{\"category\":\"share\",\"action\":\"share\",\"clickName\":\"facebook\"}'><b class=\"share-tools__service-name\">Facebook<\/b><\/button><\/li>\n<li class=\"share-tools__service share-tools__service--flipboard\"><button class=\"storyg-s1-121654\" data-share-flipboard='{\"storyId\": \"g-s1-121654\" }' data-metrics-ga4='{\"category\":\"share\",\"action\":\"share\",\"clickName\":\"flipboard\"}'><b class=\"share-tools__service-name\">Flipboard<\/b><\/button><\/li>\n<li class=\"share-tools__service share-tools__service--email\"><button class=\"share-tools__email-link\" data-story-id=\"g-s1-121654\" data-metrics-ga4='{\"category\":\"share\",\"action\":\"share\",\"clickName\":\"email\"}'><b class=\"share-tools__service-name\">Email<\/b><\/button><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- END CLASS=\"SHARE-TOOLS SHARE-TOOLS-SECONDARY\" ARIA-LABEL=\"SHARE TOOLS\" --><br \/>\n<!-- END ID=\"NEWSLETTER-ACQUISITION-CALLOUT-DATA\" DATA-NEWSLETTER=\"{&amp;QUOT;NEWSLETTERID&amp;QUOT;:&amp;QUOT;GOATS-AND-SODA&amp;QUOT;,&amp;QUOT;TITLE&amp;QUOT;:&amp;QUOT;GLOBAL HEALTH&amp;QUOT;,&amp;QUOT;MARKETINGHEADER&amp;QUOT;:&amp;QUOT;SIGN UP FOR THE GLOBAL HEALTH NEWSLETTER&amp;QUOT;,&amp;QUOT;FREQUENCY&amp;QUOT;:&amp;QUOT;EVERY WEEK&amp;QUOT;,&amp;QUOT;SHORTDESCRIPTION&amp;QUOT;:&amp;QUOT;FROM A TO ZIKA, GET THE LATEST GLOBAL HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT NEWS, SENT WEEKLY.&amp;QUOT;,&amp;QUOT;STICKYDESCRIPTION&amp;QUOT;:&amp;QUOT;GET THE LATEST IN GLOBAL HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT IN OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER.&amp;QUOT;,&amp;QUOT;CONTENTIMAGE&amp;QUOT;:&amp;QUOT;HTTPS:\/\/NPR.BRIGHTSPOTCDN.COM\/50\/AA\/6E9DE85B4781AEAD7BCA87BB06B8\/PUBLIC-HEALTH-PREVIEW-IMG.PNG&amp;QUOT;,&amp;QUOT;STATICMARKUPDIR&amp;QUOT;:&amp;QUOT;NA&amp;QUOT;,&amp;QUOT;BRANDINGDIR&amp;QUOT;:&amp;QUOT;\/BRANDING\/SECTIONS\/GLOBAL-HEALTH\/&amp;QUOT;,&amp;QUOT;BRANDINGLINK&amp;QUOT;:&amp;QUOT;HTTPS:\/\/WWW.NPR.ORG\/SECTIONS\/GLOBAL-HEALTH\/&amp;QUOT;,&amp;QUOT;RECAPTCHASITEKEY&amp;QUOT;:&amp;QUOT;6LCDN9IZAAAAAOHT985BJJBZJKBJKSXDXK3GEKST&amp;QUOT;}\" --><br \/>\n<!-- END ID=\"CALLOUT-END-OF-STORY-MOUNT\" --><\/p>\n<div id=\"callout-end-of-story-mount-piano-wrap\" class=\"callout-end-of-story-mount-piano-wrap\">\n<!-- END ID=\"CALLOUT-END-OF-STORY-MOUNT-PIANO\" CLASS=\"CALLOUT-END-OF-STORY-MOUNT-PIANO\" -->\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- END ID=\"CALLOUT-END-OF-STORY-MOUNT-PIANO-WRAP\" CLASS=\"CALLOUT-END-OF-STORY-MOUNT-PIANO-WRAP\" --><br \/>\n<!-- END ID=\"END-OF-STORY-RECOMMENDATIONS-MOUNT-PIANO\" CLASS=\"RECOMMENDED-STORIES RECOMMENDED-STORIES-PIANO\" ARIA-LABEL=\"RECOMMENDED STORIES\" --><br \/>\n<!-- END ID=\"END-OF-STORY-RECOMMENDATIONS-MOUNT\" CLASS=\"RECOMMENDED-STORIES\" ARIA-LABEL=\"RECOMMENDED STORIES\" --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Global Health Elephants eat their crops. Farmers strike back. It&#8217;s a war that&#8217;s only getting worse May 16,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1159"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1160,"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1159\/revisions\/1160"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}