Going the distance to help elephants and people
Like many in the zoo and wildlife field, I pursued my career due to a deep love of animals and the hope of seeing threatened animals ultimately thriving in the wild. Though my role at the OKC Zoo contributes to the sustainability of animal populations in human care, we understand that the highest success is truly healthy wildlife coexisting with people. The reality, of course, is more complicated.
Habitat destruction, climate change, and expanding human populations mean human–wildlife conflict is increasing worldwide. So, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to travel to Sri Lanka and work with the OKC Zoo’s Sri Lanka Elephant Project (SLEP). The entire experience was a privilege and powerful reminder that meaningful conservation work is rarely simple.
The OKC Zoo founded SLEP in 2023 to advance conservation and research of Sri Lanka’s elephant population and enhance the wellbeing of people on the island living around elephants. Asian elephants are an endangered species, with fewer than 40,000 individuals remaining worldwide, threatened primarily by habitat loss and increasing human–elephant conflict.
SLEP’s logo reflects four interconnected pillars of their work: Elephants, Culture, Ecosystems, and Community. Seeing these pieces in action brought their mission into focus for me.
ELEPHANTS
At the core of the Sri Lanka Elephant Project are the animals themselves. Sri Lanka supports roughly 7,000 wild Asian elephants on an island the size of West Virginia, living in close proximity to more than 7 million people. The elephant groups we observed were navigating landscapes shaped by agriculture, roads, villages, and protected areas. This close interaction with agrarian landscapes was a daily balancing act that underscores why purposeful, long-term research is so critical.
Spending time in the field immediately sparked ideas about how advancing our collective veterinary and behavioral understanding of these animals could further support both wild and managed elephant populations. Our visit with regional veterinary teams further emphasized the potential for expanded research collaboration. There is a tremendous opportunity to integrate veterinary skillsets into ongoing conservation work, particularly in areas like population health monitoring and early disease detection.
This trip felt like a full-circle moment for me as a zoo veterinarian and gave mea chance to think more intentionally about how my clinical skill set can contribute directly to conservation outcomes on the ground.
CULTURE
One of the most inspiring components of SLEP is its investment in people, specifically, the next generation of Sri Lankan conservation professionals. The research assistants are primarily local zoology students and early-career scientists with a clear passion for elephants and conservation. Their dedication is the backbone of this project.
Day after day, we watched them conduct field observations, manage data, and coordinate logistics with professionalism well beyond their years. When asked their favorite part of the job, every assistant gave the same answer: the elephants. But what stood out just as much was their deep commitment to the communities they work alongside.
Conservation work has a long and complicated history, and it would be easy (and inaccurate) to frame this story as outside experts arriving with solutions. What we observed instead was a Sri Lankan–driven effort built on local expertise, local relationships, and local leadership. Although this work is guided by OKC Zoo team members and funded by generous donations, our role as visiting collaborators was to listen, learn, and explore how our skills might support work that is already in motion.
ECOSYSTEMS
The science driving SLEP is interdisciplinary, practical, and intentional. The team collects detailed behavioral, demographic, and spatial data on elephant groups across the Dambulla region, throughout Minneriya and Kaudulla National Parks, Hurulu Eco Park, and the nearby agricultural landscape. By following identified individuals and herds over time, the team can track seasonal range shifts, crop-raiding patterns, herd composition changes, and reproductive trends. These datasets help answer critical questions:
How do elephants move through human-inhabited landscapes?
When and where is conflict most likely to occur?
Which mitigation strategies are most effective over time?
SLEP’s long-term data also contribute to broader questions about habitat connectivity and land-use planning. Elephants do not recognize park boundaries. Their ranges extend into agricultural fields, villages, and road and railway networks. Conservation in this landscape requires thinking beyond protected areas and toward a model that accounts for wildlife corridors, farming practices, irrigation systems, and human settlement patterns.
Watching the research assistants gather these data in the field highlighted how much of conservation depends on consistency and patience. It is not flashy work. It is careful, methodical, and cumulative, which is the kind of science that drives meaningful change and informs policy decisions that may not show results for years.
COMMUNITY
Perhaps the most powerful piece of the SLEP model is its deep engagement with local farming communities. The project currently partners with approximately 20 farms near elephant-inhabited conservation areas, working directly with families who regularly feel the effects of living in close proximity to elephants.
These farmers grow guava, mango, moringa tree, and rice in surrounding paddy fields, and all of these crops are incredibly attractive to elephants. Human–elephant conflict here is not theoretical; it is personal, immediate, and economically devastating.
Althoughthe farmers acknowledge that the elephants are a problem, for many, it does not dampen the deep admiration they feel for these creatures. One farmer laughed as she told us the elephants seem to know exactly when harvest time arrives for the ripest fruits. Her husband, like most farmers, often sleeps in a tree house to monitor the fields, where they use electric fencing, red lights, and firecrackers to (often ineffectively) deter elephants from ravaging their crops.
Coming from Oklahoma, where agriculture is also deeply woven into the regional economy, I found myself reflecting on both the similarities and the differences. Our producers at home face weather pressures, market fluctuations, and wildlife interactions of their own. But the scale and intensity of living alongside elephants is something few Oklahoma producers experience firsthand.
SLEP partner farmers we met consistently showed compassion for the elephants, even when the animals directly impact their livelihoods. Their homes were adorned with elephant iconography, and even as they spoke of the elephant-wrought destruction, their respect for the animals was evident – even through the language barrier. It is this deep admiration of the species that will continue to push SLEP’s initiatives forward, as the local Sri Lankan research team expands its coordination with local farmers, working together to track elephant movements through the agricultural landscape and develop new mitigation strategies.
This trip reinforced an important truth: successful conservation sits at the intersection of animals, ecosystems, culture, and community. The Sri Lanka Elephant Project embodies that balance in a way that is thoughtful, locally-grounded, and data-driven.
For me, this experience was both energizing and clarifying. It strengthened my commitment to finding ways zoological medicine can support conservation beyond zoo boundaries while remaining mindful of the importance of local leadership and context. I am deeply grateful to have witnessed this work firsthand and excited to continue exploring how our profession can contribute meaningfully to the shared future of elephants and humans.
This blog post was written by Dr. Daniela Yuschenkoff, Associate Veterinarian at Oklahoma City Zoo
