We and Elephants in Sri Lanka.


 Lanka Nature Trails

News ON

 (Lanka Nature Trails News Of Nature)


This is an article written about contemporary needs and published weekly on Lanka Nature Trails News ON.

We and Elephants in Sri Lanka.

The present elephant population in Sri Lanka is about 6500. When compared to the situation about 20 years ago it is an increase of 100% but it has not been able to increase the forest cover or save it. Instead it is decreasing day by day. Forests are not only being cleared for development activities, human settlements and agriculture but also destroyed by fire due to negligence, sabotage and the activities of illicit timber racketeers.

As a result the wild elephants and other wild animals are faced with a crisis of depletion of their habitats and being unable to find adequate food. The climax of this situation is the human-elephant conflict. (From what is happening in Panama off Pottuvil, it is seen that a human-leopard conflict is also taking place there.)

The objective of this article is not to discuss the human-elephant conflict but to discuss as how the human beings in Sri Lanka have identified the animal called the elephant, their attitude on the elephant, the steps taken and expected to be taken and also the manner of dealing with the elephant and to co-exist with the elephant. As this is a very long story it is considered that publishing it in parts is the most suitable procedure. So, this is published weekly on our website from today.

Challenge of Obtaining Food:

According to scientists who have done studies and research on elephants, daily an elephant needs from 150 to 300 kg of solid food and about 120 litres of water. This is not a much difficult target if leaves including grass are in plenty in the forests. Water too is not a problem in Sri Lanka’s forests and National Parks when there is no severe drought situation. (The authorities of the National Parks supply water by bowsers to manmade ponds and streams in drought situations.)  However, with the decrease of forest cover owing to reasons mentioned above it becomes difficult for animals to find their food in the forest. For this reason the coming of elephants to the villages and entering cultivated lands has been reported from Sri Lanka almost daily during the past five years. Very valuable human lives as well as the lives of elephants are lost due to this human-elephant conflict. While the elephants are engaged in a struggle to somehow obtain their food humans are engaged in a struggle to protect their homes, properties, lives and cultivations. It is a challenge to the country’s economy, the right to life of the elephants and humans and their physical and mental freedom.

Elephant Fence is Very Necessary but not the Only Solution.

Entry barriers such as the elephant fences with electricity and impassable trenches to separate the elephant habitats from human settlements and cultivations are essential but they are not the only solution to the problem. What has to be done is to desist from clearing wild animal habitats for development activities or for any other task such as human settlements or for opening up farmlands without a proper study. Even if a patch of forest land or an adjoining barren land is cleared for an essential task, land should be added to the forest close by and if there is an excess of elephants in that area they should be relocated. If the elephants living in some area do not have enough food and water, within that area either elephant corridors should be created for them to enter other suitable areas with adequate resources or forests should be grown in adjacent locations. This is an expensive and tiresome exercise but it has to be done more expeditiously and with greater enthusiasm than it is done now. If it is not done valuable human and elephant lives will be lost. Just because there are elephant fences, if crops such as paddy (rice) grow well in the villages and farmlands and the food requirements of the elephants are not found in the forests, the elephants getting into villages breaking the elephant fences cannot be prevented.

 

Next installment – Elephants Breaking the Fences

 

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