Part VIII of our serious on the environment with Studio Times

Majestic misery

By Charith Pelpola

Behold now Behemoth, he eateth grass like an ox... he lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed and ferns... his strength is in his loins... his bones are as strong pieces of brass.. his bones are like bars of iron.”

- The Book of Job

About 20% of the world’s human population lives in or near the present range of the Asian Elephant. With our numbers increasing at a rate of about 3 percent per annum, this could mean doubling the population in 23 years. Therein lies the root of the problem of saving the Asian Elephant.

In Sri Lanka, their forest home has already been reduced to a fraction of what it once was. The vast Mahaweli river valley project for settlement, agriculture and irrigation, has cut a wide swathe through the heart of elephant country. The consequent fragmentation of the forest habitat has been particularly damaging to the herds. Elephants are migratory, moving with the seasons in search of sustainable feeding grounds.. But ancient migration routes are constantly confronted by this tide of humanity, and humanity has been swift in its reprisals.

The situation is particularly tragic when elephants are pocketed in small patches of forest which can’t possibly meet their food and water requirements, and from which they have no way of escape. In Handapanagala a small oasis finally drowned by a sea of sugar cane, an ultimately failed drive to relocate an isolated herd, succeeded only in maiming, starving, and eventual deaths of an unspecified number of animals.

As our community comes into closer physical contact with the wild herds, so do our own domesticated livestock. In May 1994 an outbreak of “Haemorrhagic Pepticaemia”, a cattle disease once unheard of in elephants, was responsible for the deaths of several animals in the Uda Walawe National Park. In such a population of closely knitted and highly sociable herds, epidemics could easily wipe out entire groups.

It is ironic that one of the most ancient of living mammals, a most stubborn dissident of nature’ s laws, has, in its finale been amongst the most persecuted of all. Stranger still that here, in this island of ours, the bond between elephant and human should persist at all. But what is Sri Lanka without elephants? Our entire heritage has been borne on a tusker’s back.

But do you really understand the significance of what is happening in your own country? Could you even consider the very real prospect of the wild without elephants - the first keepers of the Kingdom. Such warnings can no longer be taken for granted. The history of the future is being Written now, upon every slain and discarded carcass.

Let’s get together to save them

By Tharuka Dissanaike

For the first time in the country, a wide array of experts on elephants will be brought together at a single forum at the National Symposium on Elephant Management and Conservation. The symposium will get off the ground next Friday and continue on Saturday. At the end of this two day session, the symposium organisers hope to bring forth a consensus on policy which will help the future conservation of the elephant population in the country. They also wish to draw up an action plan for the immediate problems that plague elephant conservation in the country- a prime example of which is the future of the Handapanagala herd.

The National Symposium is the idea of two individuals- both well known in the field- Charles Santiapillai, Prof. of Zoology, University of Peradeniya and Jayantha Jayewardene, researcher and author of the book, The Elephant in Sri Lanka.

The aim, Jayewardene claims was to bring” every one interested in elephants together.”

Participants at the symposium will be varied-from Professors and university lecturers who have researched on elephants to the Department of Wild Life Conservation, the custodians of the species to NGOs working with elephants to interested individuals who have contributed in their own way to the better understanding of the species.

The symposium is open to all. But to enter the BMICH’s Committee Room A, one has to have an invitation issued by Jayantha Jayewardene. Anyone genuinely interested can request Jayewardene for an invitation which is issued free.

What prompted this duo to hold this symposium?

“Well for one, the human elephant conflict was increasing with a number of deaths on both sides,” Jayewardene said. “The measures taken by the Department to overcome this situation were mostly ad hoc. The Department too is constrained by certain factors, like finance and manpower.”

Also, in Sri Lanka there is a wealth of research done by independent sources which never get highlighted, Much of the academic research remain behind campus walls. The aim of the symposium is to air a wide range of knowledge and expertise, and look for ways by which the Department of Wild Life Conservation could be helped in their mammoth task of preserving the elephant populations.

The policy options will be voted on by all present at the end of the second day’s sessions, and will subsequently be presented to the government. “We hope the government will take some note of this, because it will contain the collective thinking of a wide array of people,” Jayewardene said.

The final session will focus on legislation and how far the present laws have been successful in conserving the elephant.

Prof. Santiapillai, in his presentation will outline the research on elephants conducted by various individuals in post independent Sri Lanka. He points out that there is “considerable emotion and less science in the conservation of elephants in Sri Lanka.”

Depending on the success of the symposium, they may decide to hold another in Sinhala language, Jayewardene said, because field officers , trackers and mahouts who have a wealth of knowledge about the species would feel more comfortable at a Sinhala language seminar. For Santiapillai and Jayewardene this is but a first step to bigger goals. Ambitious, they hope to organise a similar gathering on a SAARC regional level later on. A final step would be to carry out a symposium at ASEAN level, with all 13 countries which have populations of Asian Elephant participating. “All this time the West dictated to us on how we should conserve our elephants. It is time that Asians took charge of managing their own elephants,” Jayewardene said. The symposium is sponsored by CTC Ltd. Jayantha Jayewardene could be reached on 074-711740

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