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By Chamintha
Thilakarathna "This is a last resort. We have no available options. All arrangements have been made to provide rifles within a week and each farmer will be given 10 bullets per year but on request they could obtain more," said the Additional Secretary to the Ministry, Mr. D. Hettiarachchi. 
In addition to the Czechoslovak and Russian rifles available, measures are being taken to provide farmers with more modern rifles. The Minister in a statement said that land ownership and income will not be a criterion in the selection process. Instead, damage caused by wild boars in the crop area will be considered, thereby, preventing any harm to other animals. Additional Secretary Hettiarachchi assures that farmers who shoot animals other than wild boars will be legally dealt with. "The Wildlife Act secures the position of other wild animals, especially of deer and elephant and only wild boars are allowed to be hunted. Therefore, we cannot issue licences to shoot elephants. Those who violate the law will be taken into custody," he said. Yet, Mr. Hettiarachchi admitted that controlling the situation would be a challenge. Conservationists are perturbed by the possible threat to elephants and other endangered animals. The damage caused by elephants to crops is far worse than that inflicted by wild boars. Thus it is likely that farmers will not only shoot wild boars and that elephants are likely to be the main target. Porcupines, samba, hare, deer are probable victims, they point out. The other fear is that this move will encourage poachers. The man-elephant conflict claimed 33 humans and 131 elephants last year in cultivated regions. During the last decade (1992-2001), the death toll was 525 humans and 1230 elephants. The numbers are rising, the solutions are limited and the days seem to be numbered for jungle animals. President of the Wild life and Nature Protection Society, Dr. Malik Fernando believes that both governmental and non-governmental organizations concerned should have been consulted before preliminary steps to implement such an extreme move were taken. This suggestion follows a proposal by the previous government to open a gun factory for the same reason, a few years back, by former Minister of Lands and Agriculture, D.M.Jayaratne which came under heavy fire. The recent suggestion is the result of a survey conducted by a research officer at the Hector Kobbekaduwa Research and Training Institute on problems faced by farmers and crop damage. He suggests providing firearms as a suitable means to assist farmers whose crops are destroyed and lives and livelihood threatened by the wild animals. According to Deputy Director of the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWLC), M.E.Wilson, the Department is taking measures to prevent any harm possible to the wildlife in the affected areas. "We understand that the dry zone cultivators are helpless. But in order to be fair by people and wild animals we have suggested that all applications for gun permits be referred to the Wildlife Department for approval. Department officials in the areas will look into the background of the applicants to find out if they have suffered crop loss due to wild boar, if they have previous records of poaching, etc," Mr. Wilson said. He also pointed out that the permit for guns is applicable island-wide, whereas it is not an islandwide requirement. The Wildlife Department has identified areas where the problem of wild boars exists. They recommend that such licences be issued only to farmers in areas where the wild boar threat prevails. However, the fears on both sides are justified. While the threat to animals cannot be ignored, the plight of farming communities should not be either. The daily trauma and fear of their lives/livelihood, the human drama of survival in jungles is often underestimated. Is there no hope of mitigation beyond arming farmers? Jayantha Jayawardene, Project Director for the Protected Area Management and Wildlife Conservation Project of the DWLC life has been involved in several projects concerning the human and elephant conflict in the North Central Province. He has identified several reasons for this conflict. "Original elephant habitats have been reduced over the years. In addition, their habitats have been fragmented due to farmers who have encroached into the jungles, thereby leaving insufficient jungle area for the animals. Also, the conflict in the war-torn jungle areas has forced elephant and other wildlife populations to move southward and often into residential or farming areas," he explained. He feels that the lack of proper land use planning by relevant authorities is the cause of the problem. "Electric fencing is expensive as it needs to be maintained at an approximate cost of 2/3 lakhs per kilometre. However, collective protection programmes and traditional farming and protection techniques are effective," he said. In the past, farmers cultivated during the wet season and elephants are not interested in visiting farms during that time as jungles provide abundant support for them. Yet, today, farmers cultivate throughout the year in a disorganized manner. As a result, during the dry months, wild animals come into cultivated areas in search of food, Mr. Jayewardene said. "It is too late to undo what has been done. However, the best solution is to create an awareness among villagers on the economic benefits they could gain through the wildlife in the area. For instance, they can be taught to use elephant dung to make paper, act as nature guides and so on. It is important to make them aware of the need to protect wildlife in the area. This way, the farmers will see a reason to protect the wild animals while finding an alternative way of safeguarding their crops," he said. |
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