More from our friends in Sri Lanka (a date for your diary)
As Srilal is the first to point out, he is not yet a Doctor, but, as he also points out, all other details are correct, so, if you're in Colombo on the 30th, please do pop along and listen to his lecture.
The text reads "The Trustees of the National Trust of Sri Lanka invite you to the lecture 'Wild Elephants of Sri Lanka' by Srilal Miththapala at 6.30pm on 30th April at the Barefoot Gallery, No 704, Galle Road, Colombo 3. RSVP Wimala Fernando Tel: 4 605143"
Posted by John Roberts at Sun, 26 Apr 2009 11:29:00 GMT 
Categories: Regional Elephants, Public Service Broadcast
Categories: Regional Elephants, Public Service Broadcast
Why do elephants come back home?
Human settlements have expanded and forests have been cleared, invariably leading to conflicts not only with elephants but other wild animals as well. As soon as there is a human-elephant conflict in some area, the traditional answer has been to “translocate” the elephant, uprooting it from its habitat and placing it in a new environment, with the expectation that it would settle down there and not cause conflict.
But is this the best answer, looking at it from both the human and elephant points of view? This is what the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWLC) is trying to find out, after several instances where elephants translocated many km away have come back to their very own “gama” or home, like humans who keep going back to their ancestral villages.
Such “homecomings” have been easy to detect in recent times because some of the elephants have been “collared” by the DWLC in collaboration with the Centre for Conservation and Research.
The latest “walkabout”, however, has been by an elephant which is easily identifiable even without a radio collar as it is a majestic one-tusked adult male.
Tranquillized and captured in the Ehetuwewa divisional area in Galgamuwa on February 14 due to complaints by villagers that the elephant was creating trouble, it had been released at the Somawathiya National Park at midnight on February 15/16, 93.4 km. away in a direct line.
Translocation of an elephant is a “major operation” which needs the deployment of 20-30 people. The elephant has to be located, tranquillized by shooting with an anaesthetic dart, then tied up with thick rope and loaded on to the truck which would carry it to its new home, The Sunday Times understands.
It should also be done in the appropriate situation, so that the danger to the elephant as well as to the team capturing it is minimal, a wildlife official explained, adding that otherwise tragedies as at Elahera where a wildlife official was killed in March could happen. There, the officials had found the elephant but as daytime is not the best time to carry out such an operation had cornered it and decided to come back in the evening.
However, the villagers had in their foolishness decided to take matters into their own hands without consulting the wildlife experts and lit flares and crackers to get the elephant out of its resting place. When the wildlife team came back on hearing the commotion, the animal had charged, killing one of them.
In the case of the one-tusked elephant, the radio collar -- one of 15 purchased with funds from the Asian Development Bank -- indicates that he left the Somawathiya National Park a few days after being translocated, The Sunday Times learns.
Explaining the workings of the collar, Dr. Prithiviraj Fernando of the Centre for Conservation and Research says that it records the position of the animal eight-hourly and once in two days transmits the information to a satellite. This information can then be downloaded from a computer, the data processed and plotted on a map. This information is very valuable to the DWLC in its work.
The elephant had left the Somawathiya National Park, walked up a little towards Kantale and the border of Trikonamadu, then northwest of Kantale to the Hurulu reservoir area, gone south, crossed the Habarana junction, kept going south, turned west, crossed the Kurunegala-Dambulla Road at Galewela, walked through the lower part of the Kahalla-Pallekelle sanctuary and come back “home”. (See map)
Nearly a month and 243 km later, the one-tusked elephant is back at “home”, The Sunday Times learns.
About two weeks ago, the villagers had complained once again about this elephant which is quite used to humans and also unafraid of them. The DWLC had arrived to find the elephant in a little patch of forest in the middle of the village. It was midday and the officials were in a quandary – if they lit flares and crackers to chase it away it could charge or go in any direction and easily harm people, another wildlife source said.
But the villagers who were furious had turned on the wildlife team, the source said, adding that they mistakenly believed that the DWLC had faked the translocation and only dumped the animal at Kahalla-Pallekelle.
Why do elephants come back “home”?
Elephants, especially adult males, have a very strong attachment to their home range. They also have a very specific home range, explains Dr. Fernando, adding that not all but some come back home. Translocation is a decision taken to solve the human-elephant conflict, by looking at it from the human point of view. It is also a very costly exercise both in terms of money and human resources.
“What of the elephant,” he asks. In the past five years, experts have been looking at this issue and assessing this management action. “To solve the human-elephant conflict or mitigate it, we need to understand the elephant part of it as well. For this, we need information,” he stressed.
When translocated elephants return, they travel in the night. They also travel through areas where people may not be used to elephants. This could be dangerous to both people and elephants, The Sunday Times learns.
The one-tusked elephant had come through Galewela, which is a highly residential area and someone could have got killed if they confronted the animal, says Dr. Fernando. On the other hand, someone could also kill the elephant. This could lead to an increase in the human-elephant conflict.
What are the options in dealing with the human-elephant conflict?
According to Dr. Fernando, there are limited options. The need is to identify the biggest trouble-makers, with the first option being to translocate them at a National Park and if they persist in coming back place them in an electrically-fenced area.If that fails the only other options available are, of course, capturing the bad trouble-makers and domesticating them or in the case of inveterate trouble-makers shooting and killing them, he points out.
Dr. Fernando says that if all else fails trouble-makers can be domesticated in a scientific manner, without resorting to the traditional way of tying them up, starving them and then breaking them. “There are new ways in which horses are being tamed,” he says, recommending that Sri Lanka should look into the possibility of setting up an institution which specializes in taming wild elephants especially as they are quick and good learners.
Emphasizing that the human-elephant conflict is more of a man-made one because humans have encroached on animal territory, he explains that translocation, capture and domestication or shooting the trouble-makers are not desirable options, especially from the point of view of elephant conservation.
“They are mainly to manage the human–elephant conflict out of human necessity. Therefore, if we are considering any of these we should make sure that it is because there is no other way out and humans simply cannot live with that particular elephant,” he stresses.
Conceding that more information is needed with regard to elephant behavioural patterns, a wildlife source says it is important to identify elephant conservation areas and also reserves where elephant management can take place.
Many decisions are taken from a human angle but we need to look at the animal as well. What is best for the elephant must also be considered, the source said, adding that otherwise we will create an imbalance in our ecosystems.
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Full House at National Trust Monthly Lecture on Wild Elephants
The monthly lecture of the National Trust on Wild Elephants of Sri Lanka generated considerable interest, as cross evident from the very large gathering, of over 100 members of the Trust, wildlife and nature enthusiasts, at the Barefoot Gallery on the 30th of April 2009.
The lecture and slide presentation was conducted by Mr Srilal Miththapala Director / Chief Executive Officer of Serendib Leisure Management Ltd, and keen wildlife and nature enthusiast.
The event was chaired by Dr Roland Silva and the Chief Guest was Mr Jayantha Jayawardena, Managing Trustee of Bio Diversity and Elephant Conservation Trust.
Srilal Miththapala’s speech covered the historical aspects of elephant evolution, social life, anatomy and its impact on the environment. The talk was supported by wealth of information and statistics, and also touched on the Human Elephant Conflict situation in . Mr Miththapala also shared some of the experiences that he has had in the wild, observing and studying elephants for over 20 years, and also gave a brief overview of the research he has done at the
The talk generated considerable interest measured by the very lively question and answer session, which eventually had to be cut short by the Chairman, due to time constraints. Mr K Kanag-Isvaran gave the Vote of Thanks and the evening ended with a fellowship in the garden.
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I was at Minneriya last week end, and can definitely confirm that the gathering is certainly very much in full swing, albeit very prematurely, with the drought now settling in the North Central province.
I saw more than 160 elephants in one single area of the ‘wev pitiya’ and we spent a good two hours, placidly watching this extended herd.
I was accompanied by Asoka Ranjeewa, my former assistant at Uda Walawe, now a top elephant expert in his own right, doing some trial blazing research at Uda Walawe along with Ms Shermin de Silva, and supervised by Dr Devaka Weerakoon.
Asoka and I identified at least 6-7 family units of approx. 10-20 each, gathered together in this area. There was a good mix of mature females, sub adults , adolescents, and juveniles.Being more familiar with the Uda Walawe park, Asoka was quite fascinated with Minneriya, where one can watch the elephants at such close quarters, out in the open, without disturbance (if there are a lesser number of jeeps of course). Behavioural observations are quite easy, and it only requires patience and a keen eye.
The elephants watered at the Minneriya tank in separate batches, some frolicking and having a great time in the water.
We spotted a big male in musth who diligently checked out all females, but seemed to be unlucky, not finding anyone responsive to his advances, he disappointedly walked away........
--Chief Executive Officer
Serendib Leisure
Sri Lanka
Tel: +9411 2332155, Fax: +9411 2438933
www.serendibleisure.com
Subsidiary of Hemas
www.hemas.com
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