Death tolls mount as elephants and people compete for land in Sri Lanka

Conservationists plead for coexistence as shrinking forests drive conflict, with elephant deaths doubling in a decade

Setting out from home to collect firewood on a cool spring morning last year, Harshini Wanninayake and her mother had no idea only one of them would come back alive. The pair were walking to a nearby forest from Eriyawa, a village in north-west Sri Lanka, when they heard a loud rustling close by.

“It came out of nowhere,” says Wanninayake. “The elephant was behind the thicket and took us completely by surprise.”