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Rangers at continual threat of harm by law-breaking villagers
As long as illegal activities continue within wildlife park boundaries, clashes between wildlife officials and villagers cannot be avoided, Wildlife Department Director-General Chandana Sooriyabandara said.
Fishermen hold a protest in Minneriya
He said the recent violence at the Minneriya National Park, where clashes erupted between villagers and a group of forest rangers, began when a fisherman had been taken into custody on charges of engaging in illegal activities inside the park.
DG Sooriyabandara said that the forest rangers had acted within their powers by taking action against people carrying out illegal activities in a national park and that they would continue to enforce the law.
“We cannot prevent the occurrence of such incidents, but steps can be taken to minimise the illegal activities carried out in the park,” he said.
A ranger who wished to remain anonymous told the Sunday Times that he and his colleagues worked with minimum equipment and this was a major reason why they could not enforce the law.
“We are not given enough weapons, nor are we provided with proper uniforms, and as a result of this people don’t tend to pay heed to the authority given to us,” he said.
He said most of the shotguns given to wildlife officers were 15-20 years old. “Most of the weapons are very old and malfunction often,” he said.
He claimed that most of the rangers in the field do not receive proper training from the Wildlife Department.
Another official of the department who also spoke on condition of anonymity described the risks rangers run when confronting villagers engaged in illegal activities such as hunting, fishing and trapping inside parks.
Twelve years ago, he and a colleague who was with him had been beaten up for carrying out their duties, and the colleague had not been fortunate enough to survive the tragedy.
The Director-General of the National Aquaculture Development Authority, Nimal Chandraratne, said fisherman must acquire a licence to fish within the national park and specific sites had been designated for this.
“The forest rangers and the fishermen have agreed to certain arrangements so that fishermen can operate without breaking the law,” he said.