News
Chasing off elephants viewed with scepticism
View(s):By Kasun Warakapitiya
Widespread concerns have been expressed over the impacts of ad hoc elephant drives launched last week and measures taken by the government to address the human elephant conflict.
Environmentalists, researchers, conservationists as well as wildlife officers and senior officials expressed concerns over the impacts of the drives while communities living near area where elephants inhabit are affected.
They said the approaches are unproductive without attempting to understand the issue through facts and science.
They said the government’s human interest based actions have a damaging impact on the environment and animals, from an impractical animal census (monkey census) which provided inaccurate data, to the current ad hoc elephant drives in which elephants run amok.
Conservationist and researcher Supun Lahiru Prakash told the Sunday Times that the government initially proposed a scientific and community driven approach to address the human elephant conflict through study and understanding elephant populations, migratory patterns and habitats, yet the elephant drives were unscientific and arbitrary.
Mr Prakash explained that the Department of Wildlife Conservation’s human elephant conflict mitigation policy was largely focused on confining the animals in protected areas, yet that had not been achieved as 70% of wild elephants roam outside of protected areas, as their ecological, behavioural patterns and special requirements do not coincide with confinement.
Research confirms that elephants driven into reserves either return to their original home range or die of starvation. Accordingly, scientific studies using satellite collaring have repeatedly shown that elephants exhibit strong homing instincts — they return to their traditional ranges soon after being driven away.
“Elephant drives displace females and calves, while solitary males, who are most responsible for crop raids and property damage, remain behind and continue to cause conflict. These drives therefore intensify rather than mitigate conflict,” he said.
Environmental activist, Ven Pahiyangala Ananda Sagara Thero said the conflict cannot be resolved by brute force, but with strategic moves backed by science.
He blamed the Environment Minister and the DWC. 
“We have taken the elephant’s land and carried out development projects, handed over the land to private businessmen and allowed settlements, and now drive the elephants, this is grossly unfair,” he said.
He said pregnant females could get injured, stressed and agitated. The unscientific move should stop.
Wildlife sources said that they have experienced that when elephants are frequently exposed to gunfire, elephant crackers and noises during drives they become violent and fearless of humans.
They said that in parallel with the elephant drive by the DWC in Hambantota, more elephant drives are being done in Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa districts. The decisions were taken at district development committees.
A senior wildlife official confirmed directives them from the Presidential Secretariat to act humanely on people’s issues, overlooking practicality, technicality as well as the impact on the animals.
Locomotive drivers said elephants should not be driven away in an ad hoc manner as the animals react in fear and panic, and change their routes putting them at risk from trains.
President of the Locomotive Operating Engineers Union (LOEU) K.A U Konthasinghe told the Sunday Times that the elephant drives had made the animals turn violent and even cross railway tracks in different areas.
“We expect elephants in areas they inhabit and where they cross the railway tracks. In those areas we slow down, but when elephants unexpectedly run across the tracks, we cannot apply the brakes,’’ he said.
The union president said that although many devices such as thermal cameras on trains, GPS to detect elephants ahead on rail tracks were discussed, nothing was implemented.
The Director General of the Department Ranjan Marasinghe said that the DWC is assisting short distance elephant drives in selected districts according to decisions taken at district development committees.
Mr Marasinghe said that people’s involvement is needed in elephant drives, but actions of inexperienced people also create issues.
He said wildlife conservation is about balancing resources, animal counts naturally and admitted that driving elephants as well as creating watering holes, and planting edible vegetation in parks proposed by activists offsets the balance. Therefore they are compelled to act carefully to maintain the natural balance of animals, handle pressures from people and find solutions.
However, the National Action Plan for the Mitigation of Human-Elephant Conflict said that large-scale elephant drives should be discontinued, while medium scale elephant drives should be assessed. Even a policy decision on small-scale drives should be done after making DWC field officers and stakeholders aware of negative repercussions, and collecting and correlating data to the level of conflict and evaluating the role of chasing elephants in human elephant conflict mitigation and elephant conservation.
| Census report awaited The Sunday Times learned that the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) is yet to release the 2024 elephant census report. The purpose was to learn of the numbers of elephants and create scientific action plans to address the human elephant conflict. | |
The best way to say that you found the home of your dreams is by finding it on Hitad.lk. We have listings for apartments for sale or rent in Sri Lanka, no matter what locale you're looking for! Whether you live in Colombo, Galle, Kandy, Matara, Jaffna and more - we've got them all!