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Puttalam’s elephants potter back to worry farmers
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W. M. Dayaratna, from Kachchimaduwa points to his damaged coconut cultivation
Wild elephants who were driven away from villages in the Puttalam district in a month-long operation which ended on April 10 are back again in the villages causing destruction.
Some 70 elephants were driven away in the operation conducted by the Wildlife Department and the Army.
The elephants went on to destroy cultivations including paddy, banana, melon and coconut crops.
Among the villages the elephants intruded are Kottukachchiya, Kachchimaduwa, Dhangahawala, Uriya, Bogayaya, Melankulama, Palugaswewa, Kivulakatuwa, Wadatta and Kaladiya.
W. M. Dayaratna, from Kachchimaduwa said that his coconut cultivation was damaged and unlike the previous times the elephants do not move away when they try to drive them away.
H.A. Shriyawathi: Villagers live in fear she says, pointing to damage
Ms. H.A. Shriyawathi from Dhangahawala said that the families live again in fear and the issues have not been resolved yet.
H.M. Tikiribanda from Kachchimaduwa said that the officials, instead of driving them to Thabbowa or Wilpattu national parks, had driven them halfway and therefore the elephants have now returned.
Deputy Director of the Wildlife Department for the Puttalam district Eranda Gamage said that it is a difficult task to drive them away as when you chase them from one location they move into one area and again when you drive them from the opposite direction they move into another area.
Many of the residents however believe that no genuine effort has been made to drive the elephants away and ensure safety to the villagers.
Text and Pix by Hiran Priyankara Jayasinghe
Damage to paddyland
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