Same week Northampton Saints face the Asia Pacific Lions in Colombo, Sri Lanka's government is deciding whether elephants keep a home ground at all.
Updated: Aug 26
Sri Lanka‘s national team is known as the Tuskers; they have a Sri Lankan Tusker emblazoned on their shirts. There are an estimated 5,000-7,500 wild elephants left in Sri Lanka (depending on the method of counting). If you prefer the scientifically backed option, choosing the 5,000 to 6,000 count is recommended. In the last decade, 3,484 elephants and 1,195 humans have died due to Human Elephant conflict (HEC) in Sri Lanka. The human side to this story is incredibly sad; one should not go further without acknowledging this; families have lost their loved ones and their lively hoods. Their voices are being heard; today we shall talk about those who wont be heard; the Elephants.
The Sri Lankan Elephant (Elephas maximus maximus) is a subspecies of the Asian Elephant - Elephas maximus . As you can tell by their name, Sri Lankan elephants are that bit extra; they are the most genetically diverse, the tallest and darkest of all Asian elephants. Not all elephants have magnificent long tusks. In fact, tuskers are the rarest expression of Elephas maximus maximus: there are only an estimated 50 to 60 left in the wild. In the last decade, over 60 tuskers have died of injuries related to human-elephant conflict. Tuskers are being targeted disproportionately. It takes males 8 to 13 years to come into puberty. But being physiologically capable is not the same thing as getting the chance to mate. Young males rarely get the chance and won’t be able to compete with larger, dominant bulls until and successfully breed until about 30. A tusked elephant shot or electrocuted in his 20s is not only tragic, but a total reproductive loss; their gene pool is lost. Given these facts, you don’t have to be a mathslete to work out that on this current trajectory, the Sri Lankan tusked elephant may be extinct within the next 10 years. Worse still, given the present government’s approach to the crisis, it may be faster than this.
The saddest thing is that death on both sides of the human-elephant conflict could’ve been avoided. Sri Lanka‘s own scientists had already written the plan to prevent them in 2020. It was rolled out in 2024 after Sri Lanka’s HEC 2023 death toll peaked at 488 elephants and 187 human deaths. The scientifically based National Action Plan (NAP), cut elephant deaths by a fifth and human deaths by nearly as much. This is despite the fact that it was only partially implemented. Within a year of its success and a change in government, it was shelved. The old approach it was built to replace, elephant drives, translocation, and firearms handed to civilians came straight back. The deaths climbed again almost immediately.
Tuskers are iconic and play a strong part in Sri Lankan culture; so much so that these wild elephants are named. Digha was one such tusker. On 20th June 2026, Digha was reported dead; he was found lying beside a live mains-powered illegal fence. Within seconds of Digha’s trunk touching the live wire, while the continuous current held him there, 240 volts surged through his trunk and straight into his heart; its rhythm instantly disrupted. The muscles of Digha’s chest would’ve locked. His breath would’ve stopped. Digha would’ve suffered internal burning just before his body collapsed exactly where he stood. Death from a mains-powered line is sudden, silent, and final.
Meanwhile, 4,445 miles away, on the same day that Digha’s death was reported, Northampton Saints beat Exeter Chiefs in the Gallagher Premiership Final. Now, two months on, Saints have landed on Sri Lankan soil for the first time in the club’s history. They will be playing the Pacific Asian Lions team, a Sri Lankan-owned Barbarian Style side, directed by Australian Rugby Legend David Campese.
No doubt Sri Lankan fans will be backing the Asia Pacific Lions; one of their own; Naveen Marasinghe is the only Sri Lankan to have made it onto the squad. The Asia Pacific Lions have one loan ‘tusker’. The irony is not lost on me.
So what has the current HEC Crisis got to do with Rugby? Absolutely nothing. BUT Sri Lanka loves its Rugby. There’s huge hype around the inaugural Saints-Lions match on August 28th in the local media, and the government is water-marking its presence through it all. The same government who is deciding this week what the NAP replacement plan will look like, and whether elephant corridors get protected or cleared, is also the one lending its full patronage to the Saints Tour of Sri Lanka. It has welcomed the tour publicly and made sure its connection to British Rugby‘s biggest stage is fully felt. When it wants international attention, it clearly knows how to make that happen. Watching a Sri Lankan press conference about Rugby and observing the length of airtime a politician is given, brings things sharply into focus. Bread and Circuses: Give the public a marquee match to cheer as the bodies hit the floor, and the elephant corridors keep coming down.
So while the attention is there, take a closer look. Keep watching and holding the government accountable, make your presence felt long after the final whistle and the crowds have gone home.
The Tusker emblazoned on the Sri Lankan National Rugby Shirt is still an emblem of a living being. Just. What the present government decides now will determine whether it remains so or just becomes like the legendary Lion on Sri Lanka’s flag: absent from its lands.
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