Intervention conservation - we need to be sure we are doing good things.
A couple of articles from the Newswire that allow me to warm to the theme of the possible effects of over managing our last remaining wild spaces, whether it be for gain, with good intentions to better conserve them or whether it be to try to strike the necessary balance between the two.
As a Tiger conference closes in Kathmandu where the idea of re-legalising the sale of tiger bone materials in China was lobbied for and blown out of this particular bit of water (though I'm sure they won't go away - there's too much money involved) and the battle to keep China's resolve strong moves to CITES again and to the Olympics a smaller motion grabbed fewer headlines...
...Nepal - or certain lobbying companies within Nepal - is entertaining the idea of signing their National Parks (containing not only tiger but elephant) over to private companies to control on the grounds that a balance must be struck between conservation and tourism for the parks to survive and that some tourism controlled game ranches in Africa are loaded with the 'big five' - it may not be natural but, hey, they're alive aren't they? It must be conservation.
Dr Charles McDougal who has been operating in tiger (and therefore habitat) conservation in Nepal since the '60's says 'no way' and although I can see certain advantages to the idea of tourism companies also being responsible for protection I have to agree with him that very few companies are going to be voluntarily self regulating. The rules designed to control the tourist numbers (number of safaris, number of people living within a park - how many tourists have told me they saw their Indian tiger because their driver 'knew' someone and was allowed to break the rules?), that don't conserve one species of megafauna at the possible expense of others (tanks to allow a greater carrying capacity of elephants leading to over grazing for all other species as elephants don't migrate from the tanks) are tempting. If most of a group of companies owning concessions resist temptation to break the laws all it takes is for one take advantage and arrange things in order to attract more visitors or, more insidiously, take profits from selling their wildlife to poachers or hunters and the system falls apart.
The truth is we can have no idea what the full impact of our actions can be in the natural environment and a century ago when Asia was covered in a sink of untouched forest, or where humans had been interacting with the jungle in the same manner since time immemorial, our actions in a small piece of land didn't matter too much. But now we find ourselves custodians of the only small bits of natural forest that are left our actions, however well intentioned, can have enormous global effect.
The irony of all of this is that I believe Nepal has found a workable system of heavily controlled tourist operations within the National Parks, a bufferzone area in which local people are encouraged to respect the wildlife (in some cases they have started their own tourist operations) and whose people benefit from 50% of all fees raised by the park authority (both commission fees and entrance fees), protection and anti-poaching is provided by the army. This system has developed into a model for Asian park protection and tourist interaction with the jungle.
If there is any country in the world where the system doesn't need to be changed it is Nepal, perhaps in the wake of the political upheaval it needs to be tightened a bit and everyone reminded of their role but, upheavals aside, it has worked well since the late '60's.
It does, however, only work if the controlling Government authority is prepared to enforce the rules throughout and ensures that the jungle grows, lives and dies with the minimum of intervention and that the (huge I know) temptation to manage purely in favour of the big mammals, those that tourists come to see, those whose problems are most obvious, is resisted.
At the very least a lot of homework must be done before we decide to intervene.
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Driven to death (Sri Lanka)
The Daily Times
April 1, 2007
Is the very move - relocating elephants in the national parks - aimed at protecting these majestic animals killing them? Kumudini Hettiarachchi reports on a visit to the Lunugamvehera National Park where elephants appear to be dying of starvation.
Are elephants starving to death? Not outside but in the very place they have been driven to in the name of protection and safety - the Lunugamvehera National Park.
Several of the elephants, about 250 herded into the Lunugamvehera Park, under two phases of an elephant drive that began in 2005, may have died for lack of food, resulting in malnourishment and disease, The Sunday Times learns, after a visit to the area this week. What will be the fate of the remaining elephants, considering that the dry season is just starting?
"I saw three elephants dead in the park," says T.A. Ajith Kumara, 18, who lives just outside the boundary, explaining that their carcasses were by the bund of the Lunugamvehera tank, in the jungle.
Giving a time period of one and a half months, just after the tank reached spill level, he says others in his village have seen another eight or ten dead elephants.
Recently, the elephants were always near the electric fence, put up at the boundary, but they are no longer here because wanajeevi (wildlife) people have cut a massive drain, he says, pointing to a large swathe of earth churned up by bulldozers.
A long stretch of the park off the Wellawaya-Tissamaharama Road is now barricaded not only by the electric fence but also this deep drain. At night, the fence is guarded by wildlife officials from temporary cadjan-thatched open huts. The fence is also hung with small kerosene containers which are lit at night to keep the elephants beyond and within the park itself.
Ajith says recently he counted more than 150 maha evun and pataw (big ones and babies) one night, adding that some elephants had wounds and rashes and most of them were godak kettu (very thin). "Some of them who used to come with babies later came alone, most probably the babies may have died," he says, explaining that wanajeevi people come in regularly to treat the elephants, when informed.
"Even last night, I saw a very big cow elephant with a baby that was thin and weak," says Ajith while his mother and brother confirm that even wanajeevi people have mentioned that the elephants do not have enough food in the park. The elephants also fight each other, with most confrontations occurring between the resident park elephants and those who have been brought in.
A short walk into the park through an opening in the electric fence left for the fresh-water fishermen to have access to the Lunugamvehera tank comes as an eye-opener.
The land is already parched and this is only the beginning of the dry season which would extend up to the end of September. The only scrub left without being touched are those that cannot be eaten by the elephants. The andara (thorny) bushes, the fodder of elephants, have all been stripped to the core.
Several kilometres away, in their home, with the main road on one side and the electric fence of the Lunugamvehera Park on the other, husband-wife W.K. Anurasiri and H.G. Dayawathie are only too willing to explain the plight of the elephants while also pointing out that Wildlife Department officials are trying to do their best amidst many problems.
"Yes, the elephants don't have anything to eat and we have been feeding them kehel bada through the fence," says Anurasiri, blaming the shortage of food within on the people who are using the area as grazing grounds for large herds of cattle which add up to many thousands.
The cattle eat up all the grass on the tank bed, leaving nothing for the elephants. Then the elephants attempt to breakthrough the electric fence and forage for food in the villages close by. That's the problem in this area. When the electric fence is on, the thin and gaunt elephants walk up and down along the fence looking for food, waiting for whatever we can give them, he says.
"We heard of the deaths of three elephants within about a month very recently. We need elephants. Do you know that in the Maha we cultivators know that it is going to rain in about six-seven days when the elephants get together and keep trumpeting for a while," he says, also pointing a finger at the fishermen who frequent the tanks inside the park for disturbing elephant habitat.
His views are echoed by many in the area including Kusuma Senarath Abeywardena, who runs the family boutique along the Wellawaya-Tissamaharama Road, close to the park.
All wildlife officials The Sunday Times spoke to declined to confirm or deny whether elephants were dying of starvation in the park.
What has gone wrong at Lunugmavehera? Is this a problem only at this park or is it reflected elsewhere in places such as Yala and Wilpattu, where elephants have been driven and imprisoned? Should Sri Lanka continue with elephant drives to collect these animals from areas that are their birthright and then put them into parks where already there is a resident elephant population?
Several wildlife officials told The Sunday Times that the department maybe rethinking its policy about elephant drives in the light of new developments.
"What can we do?" questioned one, explaining that the moment there are one or two incidents with elephants, there is a lot of pressure from people and politicians to "do something" about it, with strong signals that the elephants should be removed from those areas.
The Sunday Times understands that under the drive conducted last year, elephants from forests around the left bank of the Walawe, mostly Forest Department lands, covering more than 350 sq km. were herded to Lunugamvehera Park which is around 250 sq.km. The park itself may have had about 100 elephants and around 250 have been added to this number. There is a large number in the park but the spadework necessary to accommodate them had not been done before the drive.
While this may have already resulted in some elephants dying from lack of food, yet another drive was done two weeks ago into the same park, where another 100 elephants were driven in from state lands around Pelawatte, north of the park. The Sunday Times learns that another drive is to take place into Wilpattu soon.
The Director-General of the Wildlife Conservation Department, Dayananda Kariyawasam was unavailable for comment as he was in the field, both on Wednesday and Thursday.
The need of the moment is for the department to launch an immediate investigation to ascertain whether elephants are dying of starvation. If these majestic beasts are facing death and disease for lack or shortage of fodder, urgent steps are essential to save them right now before the dry season takes its toll on these hapless creatures.
As the guardians of a heritage that belongs to the whole country, the Department of Wildlife Conservation has a responsibility to find out and inform the public of the wellbeing and fate of the elephants that have been driven to Lunugamvehera, an operation which cost over Rs. 160 million in public funds.
The people of Sri Lanka demand answers.
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In the throes of death. A long and belaboured intake of breath, then an equally shuddering exhalation. No massive struggle, just the forelegs pushing the earth and the eye glazing over.
A giant has been felled. We were witness to a heart-rending death - the death of a majestic bull elephant surrounded by concerned villagers on the dried up bed of Tammennawewa in Lunugamvehera just before noon on Tuesday. The villagers had covered the dying elephant with large leafy branches to ward off the noonday heat while bringing water in small plastic buli (cans) to wet it and also pour into its mouth.
This was yet another death due to gunshot injuries, the villagers told The Sunday Times while a young woman carrying a baby sighed sadly and said, "We are angry with elephants when they crash into our chenas or home-gardens but very sad when we see them drop like this."
She had put the human-elephant conflict in a nutshell, giving voice not only to the situation the men, women and children in the area are faced with but also to the plight of elephants.
During a day's walkabout in the area from which elephants were driven into Lunugamvehera Park, we talk to knots of people. Three men about to leave on their bicycles looking for kuli weda are vociferous about the ali karadara.
"We are awake the whole night because the elephants, especially the young males come to our doorstep. Last year one elephant charged the wall of a hut and killed a woman," says A.G. Siripala very critical of the drive.
Adds K.G.A. Nishantha: "Even if a small child falls ill in the night we are unable to take him to hospital for fear of elephants."
The consensus is that kisi hevillak, belillak nethuwa (without checking out), the drive was carried out. While a majority were herded into the Lunugmavehera Park, many were left behind and are creating a bigger problem than what villagers faced earlier, because now elephants are familiar with the ali wedi and thunder crackers used to chase them.
According to U.G. Jayalath elephants from other areas have been brought to the area and this has caused numerous problems to the villagers numbering about 70 families. Not only are W. Gamini and M.A. Sirimawathi willing to talk to us but also take us around their large plot of land to show jumbo footprints. "Can't grow a thing here," says Sirimavathi, adding that she met an elephant face-to-face in the garden in the gloaming and was so scared that she rushed into their tiny hut and shut the door. "I didn't step out until the next morning."
Come walk in the wela and see what destruction the elephants have caused, suggests H.S. Dahanayake relating an incident where the previous night his neighbour had to leave his hut and hide in the bedda because an elephant very nearly pushed the hut's wall down.
Most of these villagers have also helped in the elephant drive. D.J.S. Weerasuriya gives details of the drive. "The elephants were rounded up from areas such as Ridiyagama. Madunagala and Suriyawewa and brought close to Lunugamvehera in August 2005, when the drive had to be called off due to heavy rain. Then in August 2006 it was initiated once again and about 350 elephants were rounded up and led to the park. But about 175, among whom are about 45 thaniyas ehe meha vuna (the loners moved away)," he says giving the final verdict that the drive was a 99% failure.
While those days the villagers had to contend with only about four to five elephants now they have to deal with a large number, he says.
M.K. Gunapala who keeps vigil in his tree hut high up, protecting his melon crop against elephants, says after about 6 in the evening people are frightened to get out of their homes.
All these complaints and grumblings are from the area elephants were driven from. While it is crystal clear that the drive has not solved the problems the villagers had with elephants, it seems to have aggravated the issue. While most villagers lay the blame for a "failed" elephant drive squarely at the door of the Wildlife Conservation Department, others claim wildlife officials are doing their best in a difficult situation.
Those in the fifth colony warned us against going to the next village, the sixth colony, as my colleague was in khaki slacks. "People may mistake you for wanajeevi......they are waiting for them to come," said U.G. Jayalath.
Leaving recriminations aside, what needs to be done is damage control and implementation of effective long-term remedies, not only for the protection of humans but also of elephants.
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John's comment on below: Admittedly this seems a much more well intentioned move and I am sure it is still in the experimental stage and will eventually work, but coupled with the stories above it serves to remind that "releasing back to the wild" is easier said than done. Unfortunately it is another argument dragged out in favour of tiger farming, "Oh, we'll eventually be able to put our excess cats back into the jungle" - releasing large herbivores into an area of jungle is frought enough, releasing large territorial carnivores - especially those that have never hunted even a rabbit - is all but impossible - another day, another blog that one.
Categories: General Conservation, Regional Elephants
...positive update on the final piece, of course there are no guarantees for the project but it seems that particular hurdle has been jumped and the eles are feeling the joy at the onset of the rains that all our little ones felt.
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Monsoon clouds put elephant calves in high spirits (India)
Wildlife Trust of India
June 25. 2007
Manas (Assam), June 25: The six hand raised elephant calves being readied for release in a National Park in the eastern Indian Assam state are enjoying the monsoons, frolicking in the swelling streams and eating the new shoots of grass that have sprung out of the wet earth.
After months of dry weather and shrinking streams, the continuous rain in the last fortnight has brought with it an abundance of food and water.
The calves were brought to Doimari in Manas National Park from their earlier home in Kaziranga, about 350 kms away in February this year, as part of a plan to rehabilitate them in the wild.
All of them were between 1 to 2 years old when they were rescued from different parts of Assam, and were hand raised at the Center for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) in Kaziranga.
“Since the food is in plenty these days, the elephants are very excited and stay out long hours for forage. But sometimes we are worried, when they move to faraway places and remain out of sight,” Tarun Gogoi, one of the animal keepers who looks after the elephants said.
The monsoon season which receives maximum rainfall in India, is crucial to the environment, as is the economy and to the millions of farmers across the country.
Though, the season’s first rains are encountered in May in southern India, it usually reaches parts of eastern India by mid June.
This year though, incessant rain in Assam has raised the water level in a number of important rivers, raising fears of floods, which have periodically affected thousands of people including wildlife in the past.
Park officials involved in the acclimatization process said favourable conditions in Manas are tempting the pachyderms to step out of their usual foraging grounds.
Conservation organizations, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) had built a night shelter for the elephant calves deep inside the Doimari forests to protect them from predators.
The calves were radio-collared and two animal keepers have been assigned so that they can be monitored round the clock.
But fresh thickets of tall grasses in the habituation site have hindered the constant watch maintained by various attendants since they were brought here.
“The prevailing climatic condition is not helping either to collect accurate data from the radio-collars on their whereabouts,” said Dr. Bhaskar Choudhury, WTI’s veterinarian in Doimari.
“Their desire for freedom is a natural progression, since we habituated them to behave that way. This programme will help them to return to wilderness.”
The Manas National Park, a world heritage site, is home to more than 600 wild elephants, besides a wide variety of rare mammal and avian species.
The elephant calves had created history, when they became the first in India to be returned to the wild after being hand raised.
CWRC is India’s first multi-species rescue and rehabilitation center set up jointly by WTI and IFAW with support from the Assam Forest Department in the year 2002.
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