(LK) Fw: please help Sri Lankan elephants:Fw:[wildlanka]Fwd:LunugamveheraElephants

[Guest guest]

Penny Jayawardane has send the alert below to crosspost widely, some of you may

have received it from Champa already few days ago. It's a heartbreaking

situation. We have to somehow put pressure onto the responsible wildlife

authorities to correct the mistake they made.

 

-

" Champa Fernando " <nihalas

" Padma " <padmaeva

Sunday, April 22, 2007 3:18 PM

Fwd: Re: pleasse help Sri Lankan

elephants:Fw:[wildlanka]Fwd:LunugamveheraElephants

 

ISSN: 1391 - 0531

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Vol. 41 - No 44

Plus

 

Driven to death

 

Is the very move - relocating elephants in the national parks - aimed at

protecting these majestic animals killing them? Kumudini Hettiarachchi reports

on a visit to the

Lunugamvehera National Park where elephants appear to be dying of

starvation.

 

Are elephants starving to death? Not outside but

in the very place they have been driven to in the

name of protection and safety - the Lunugamvehera National Park.

 

Several of the elephants, about 250 herded into

the Lunugamvehera Park, under two phases of an

elephant drive that began in 2005, may have died

for lack of food, resulting in malnourishment and

disease, The Sunday Times learns, after a visit

to the area this week. What will be the fate of

the remaining elephants, considering that the dry season is just starting?

 

 

Skin and bone, a dead elephant at the Lunugamvehera Park

 

" I saw three elephants dead in the park, " says

T.A. Ajith Kumara, 18, who lives just outside the

boundary, explaining that their carcasses were by

the bund of the Lunugamvehera tank, in the jungle.

 

Giving a time period of one and a half months,

just after the tank reached spill level, he says

others in his village have seen another eight or ten dead elephants.

 

Recently, the elephants were always near the

electric fence, put up at the boundary, but they

are no longer here because wanajeevi (wildlife)

people have cut a massive drain, he says,

pointing to a large swathe of earth churned up by bulldozers.

 

A long stretch of the park off the

Wellawaya-Tissamaharama Road is now barricaded

not only by the electric fence but also this deep

drain. At night, the fence is guarded by wildlife

officials from temporary cadjan-thatched open

huts. The fence is also hung with small kerosene

containers which are lit at night to keep the

elephants beyond and within the park itself.

 

 

Electric fence put up at the boundary of the park

 

Ajith says recently he counted more than 150 maha

evun and pataw (big ones and babies) one night,

adding that some elephants had wounds and rashes

and most of them were godak kettu (very thin).

" Some of them who used to come with babies later

came alone, most probably the babies may have

died, " he says, explaining that wanajeevi people

come in regularly to treat the elephants, when informed.

 

" Even last night, I saw a very big cow elephant

with a baby that was thin and weak, " says Ajith

while his mother and brother confirm that even

wanajeevi people have mentioned that the

elephants do not have enough food in the park.

The elephants also fight each other, with most

confrontations occurring between the resident

park elephants and those who have been brought in.

 

A short walk into the park through an opening in

the electric fence left for the fresh-water

fishermen to have access to the Lunugamvehera tank comes as an eye-opener.

 

The land is already parched and this is only the

beginning of the dry season which would extend up

to the end of September. The only scrub left

without being touched are those that cannot be

eaten by the elephants. The andara (thorny)

bushes, the fodder of elephants, have all been stripped to the core.

 

 

The thorny bushes: Stripped by

hungry elephants

 

Several kilometres away, in their home, with the

main road on one side and the electric fence of

the Lunugamvehera Park on the other, husband-wife

W.K. Anurasiri and H.G. Dayawathie are only too

willing to explain the plight of the elephants

while also pointing out that Wildlife Department

officials are trying to do their best amidst many problems.

 

" Yes, the elephants don't have anything to eat

and we have been feeding them kehel bada through

the fence, " says Anurasiri, blaming the shortage

of food within on the people who are using the

area as grazing grounds for large herds of cattle

which add up to many thousands.

 

The cattle eat up all the grass on the tank bed,

leaving nothing for the elephants. Then the

elephants attempt to breakthrough the electric

fence and forage for food in the villages close

by. That's the problem in this area. When the

electric fence is on, the thin and gaunt

elephants walk up and down along the fence

looking for food, waiting for whatever we can give them, he says.

 

" We heard of the deaths of three elephants within

about a month very recently. We need elephants.

Do you know that in the Maha we cultivators know

that it is going to rain in about six-seven days

when the elephants get together and keep

trumpeting for a while, " he says, also pointing a

finger at the fishermen who frequent the tanks

inside the park for disturbing elephant habitat.

 

His views are echoed by many in the area including Kusuma Senarath Abeywardena,

who runs the family boutique along the Wellawaya-Tissamaharama Road, close to

the park.

 

All wildlife officials The Sunday Times spoke to

declined to confirm or deny whether elephants

were dying of starvation in the park.

 

What has gone wrong at Lunugmavehera? Is this a

problem only at this park or is it reflected

elsewhere in places such as Yala and Wilpattu,

where elephants have been driven and imprisoned?

Should Sri Lanka continue with elephant drives to

collect these animals from areas that are their

birthright and then put them into parks where

already there is a resident elephant population?

 

Several wildlife officials told The Sunday Times

that the department maybe rethinking its policy

about elephant drives in the light of new developments.

 

" What can we do? " questioned one, explaining that

the moment there are one or two incidents with

elephants, there is a lot of pressure from people

and politicians to " do something " about it, with

strong signals that the elephants should be removed from those areas.

 

The Sunday Times understands that under the drive

conducted last year, elephants from forests

around the left bank of the Walawe, mostly Forest

Department lands, covering more than 350 sq km.

were herded to Lunugamvehera Park which is around

250 sq.km. The park itself may have had about 100

elephants and around 250 have been added to this

number. There is a large number in the park but

the spadework necessary to accommodate them had

not been done before the drive.

 

While this may have already resulted in some

elephants dying from lack of food, yet another

drive was done two weeks ago into the same park,

where another 100 elephants were driven in from

state lands around Pelawatte, north of the park.

The Sunday Times learns that another drive is to

take place into Wilpattu soon.

 

The Director-General of the Wildlife Conservation

Department, Dayananda Kariyawasam was unavailable

for comment as he was in the field, both on Wednesday and Thursday.

 

The need of the moment is for the department to

launch an immediate investigation to ascertain

whether elephants are dying of starvation. If

these majestic beasts are facing death and

disease for lack or shortage of fodder, urgent

steps are essential to save them right now before

the dry season takes its toll on these hapless creatures.

 

As the guardians of a heritage that belongs to

the whole country, the Department of Wildlife

Conservation has a responsibility to find out and

inform the public of the wellbeing and fate of

the elephants that have been driven to

Lunugamvehera, an operation which cost over Rs. 160 million in public funds.

 

The people of Sri Lanka demand answers.

Things have only got worse: Villagers

 

In the throes of death. A long and belaboured

intake of breath, then an equally shuddering

exhalation. No massive struggle, just the

forelegs pushing the earth and the eye glazing over.

 

A giant has been felled. We were witness to a

heart-rending death - the death of a majestic

bull elephant surrounded by concerned villagers

on the dried up bed of Tammennawewa in

Lunugamvehera just before noon on Tuesday. The

villagers had covered the dying elephant with

large leafy branches to ward off the noonday heat

while bringing water in small plastic buli (cans)

to wet it and also pour into its mouth.

 

This was yet another death due to gunshot

injuries, the villagers told The Sunday Times

while a young woman carrying a baby sighed sadly

and said, " We are angry with elephants when they

crash into our chenas or home-gardens but very

sad when we see them drop like this. "

 

She had put the human-elephant conflict in a

nutshell, giving voice not only to the situation

the men, women and children in the area are faced

with but also to the plight of elephants.

 

 

The dying elephant close to Tammennawewa: Pix by M.A. Pushpa Kumara

 

During a day's walkabout in the area from which

elephants were driven into Lunugamvehera Park, we

talk to knots of people. Three men about to leave

on their bicycles looking for kuli weda are vociferous about the ali

karadara.

 

" We are awake the whole night because the

elephants, especially the young males come to our

doorstep. Last year one elephant charged the wall

of a hut and killed a woman, " says A.G. Siripala very critical of the drive.

 

Adds K.G.A. Nishantha: " Even if a small child

falls ill in the night we are unable to take him

to hospital for fear of elephants. "

 

The consensus is that kisi hevillak, belillak

nethuwa (without checking out), the drive was

carried out. While a majority were herded into

the Lunugmavehera Park, many were left behind and

are creating a bigger problem than what villagers

faced earlier, because now elephants are familiar

with the ali wedi and thunder crackers used to chase them.

 

According to U.G. Jayalath elephants from other

areas have been brought to the area and this has

caused numerous problems to the villagers

numbering about 70 families. Not only are W.

Gamini and M.A. Sirimawathi willing to talk to us

but also take us around their large plot of land

to show jumbo footprints. " Can't grow a thing

here, " says Sirimavathi, adding that she met an

elephant face-to-face in the garden in the

gloaming and was so scared that she rushed into

their tiny hut and shut the door. " I didn't step out until the next

morning. "

Come walk in the wela and see what destruction

the elephants have caused, suggests H.S.

Dahanayake relating an incident where the

previous night his neighbour had to leave his hut

and hide in the bedda because an elephant very

nearly pushed the hut's wall down.

 

Most of these villagers have also helped in the

elephant drive. D.J.S. Weerasuriya gives details

of the drive. " The elephants were rounded up from

areas such as Ridiyagama. Madunagala and

Suriyawewa and brought close to Lunugamvehera in

August 2005, when the drive had to be called off

due to heavy rain. Then in August 2006 it was

initiated once again and about 350 elephants were

rounded up and led to the park. But about 175,

among whom are about 45 thaniyas ehe meha vuna

(the loners moved away), " he says giving the

final verdict that the drive was a 99% failure.

 

While those days the villagers had to contend

with only about four to five elephants now they

have to deal with a large number, he says.

 

M.K. Gunapala who keeps vigil in his tree hut

high up, protecting his melon crop against

elephants, says after about 6 in the evening

people are frightened to get out of their homes.

 

All these complaints and grumblings are from the

area elephants were driven from. While it is

crystal clear that the drive has not solved the

problems the villagers had with elephants, it

seems to have aggravated the issue. While most

villagers lay the blame for a " failed " elephant

drive squarely at the door of the Wildlife

Conservation Department, others claim wildlife

officials are doing their best in a difficult situation.

 

Those in the fifth colony warned us against going

to the next village, the sixth colony, as my

colleague was in khaki slacks. " People may

mistake you for wanajeevi..they are waiting for

them to come, " said U.G. Jayalath.

 

Leaving recriminations aside, what needs to be

done is damage control and implementation of

effective long-term remedies, not only for the

protection of humans but also of elephants.

 

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