News
Illegal feeding blamed for three elephant attacks in Yala
While tourism returns to normal in Yala, a number of elephant attacks were reported this week from the national park.
The first incident was reported on Wednesday morning when a safari jeep carrying four French tourists was attacked by the tusker Nandimitra. A video filmed by passengers in a nearby jeep shows the angry elephant attacking the jeep with its sharp tusks. The vehicle was damaged and nearly toppled, but luckily the tourists were not harmed, and the elephant retreated to the wild.
On Friday, two separate attacks were reported in two different areas of the park. Once again Nandimitra was responsible for one of these attacks.Gemunu – another famous tusker – was responsible for the other incident where a jeep was toppled. Some eyewitnesses say Gemunu was trying to put his trunk into the jeep to look for food, and when the tourists tried to leave, the tyres of the vehicle slipped on some rocks, causing it to topple over.
Jeep toppled after Gemunu's intrusion
Both Nandimitra and Gemunu are in musth these days, so they are aggressive, said Yala National Park Warden Manoj Vidyaratne. He said during the period of musth, the reproductive hormones of bull elephants increase several fold making them aggressive.
“There are several other bull elephants in the park that are in musth these days but Nandimitra and Gumunu are the ones that cause trouble as they have a habit of coming close to safari jeeps to look for food,” said Mr Vidyaratne.
At least 200 safari jeeps enter the Yala National Park daily. During the last long weekend more than 400 jeeps were recorded, daily, he added.
Elephant attacking a jeep
“Yala has only about 50 guides, so it is not possible to give a guide for each vehicle, and we entrust experienced jeep drivers to act responsibly. Two of our staff teams are on watch in the area these bull elephants frequent, to prevent any more incidents,” Mr Vidyaratne said.
“This is actually a man-made issue, which is a result of unregulated visitation, pilgrim sites and religious places within the national park,” said Environmental Foundation Limited (EFL) biologist Manori Gunawardena.
She said the elephants have developed a habit of looking for food in the safari jeeps because visitors and pilgrims feed them.
According to Ms Gunawardena, Nandimitra frequently visits Sithulpawwa Temple located inside the park, and is fed by the temple’s monks and pilgrims. It is believed that local hotels also feed Gemunu.
Gemunu and other elephants that are fed by people, have now started to stop vehicles and look for food with their trunks. If they cannot get the food inside the vehicles, then they begin to act aggressively. This behaviour becomes violent when in musth, Ms Gunawardena said.
The mother-child bond: With several instances of wild elephants being harassed by the public being reported, this scene was captured in the Maduru Oya Wildlife Park showing the love and care from the mother elephant to her baby. (Pic by Wasantha Chandrapala)
“People need to stop feeding wild animals in the park, otherwise there will be others like Nandimitra and Gemunu,” she added.
Feeding of wild animals has become a serious problem inside Yala, said Wildlife and Nature Protection Society (WNPS) President Spencer Manuelpillai.
“At certain places where visitors are allowed to step down from their vehicles, people feed the macaque monkeys, who are attracted to these places because of the food. These animals have now become a nuisance, and a few people have been bitten and then rushed to the closest hospital for anti-rabies injections,” said Mr Manuelpillai.
“The existing regulations forbid people from feeding wildlife in the park. Unless these regulations are strictly enforced, worse incidents could happen. No lives have yet been lost. Severe penalties should be imposed on those who breach these laws,” he added.
According to reports, some factions are putting forward the idea of translocating problematic elephants from Yala to the Horowpathana elephant hoarding ground.
Mr Manuapillai said the WNPS is vehemently against this move. He requested the wildlife authorities to close Yala temporarily if necessary, but let these elephants remain in the park as it was their home and the visitors were intruders.
Nandimitra rifles through a jeep
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