• by Amantha Perera (dennawa, sri lanka)
• Sunday, September 20, 2009
• Inter Press Service

Dennawa is a typical rural Sri Lankan agriculture village, located deep in the dry zone. Behind the houses made of dry brick stretch the fields where villagers tend vegetables and fruit plantations.

Dennawa, located about 300 kilometres from the capital Colombo and in the arid north central province, is also right in the heart of a conflict that has pitted human development against an animal that is revered and feared in equal measure — the elephant.

The main road that runs right across the village ends at the last house, where human habitation ceases and the world of the elephants literally begins. That house belongs to 27-year-old Jagath de Silva, whose outer boundary is demarcated by three thick cables running through large black tree trunks.

Live current flows through the wires, which have been put in place not to deter humans from trespassing but to give a shock -- albeit mild and therefore not enough to kill -- if any of the elephants roaming the adjoining Kalaweva jungles tries to encroach inland.

'The elephants know that the fence is there, and if they even brush against it, they will get a shock,' de Silva, standing next to the fence, told IPS. Dried-out piles of elephant dung could be seen right at the edge of the fence, but not across it -- telltale signs that these massive herbivorous mammals dare not cross the line. 'The fence has been here since 2007 and we live in harmony -- the elephant on the other side, we on this side.'

The fence has been a real boon to villagers like Mudiyanselage Karunaratne, 54, and a fortuitous lifesaver for the animals.

Before the fence went up, Karunaratne, whose only source of income is farming, had to guard his crop at nights and chase away marauding elephants using flares, loud crackers and even his voice to shoo them away. 'It was a constant battle, every night. Once the elephants get the feeling there is easy food, they keep coming,' he said while tending his field.

The ensuing conflict between man and elephant has taken a toll on both. According to prominent elephant conservationist Jayantha Jayawardene, as many as 150 elephants are killed yearly. The human life loss is around 60.

Sri Lanka’s Wild Life Department, tasked to protect wildlife and related resources, said over 50 percent of the elephants die due to gunshot injuries, some from automatic weapons. Close to 40 percent of the animals that have been killed in the last decade are from the north central region of the country, where agrarian villages like Dennawa sit side by side with an elephant habitat.

The Department said that in the last decade at least 1,300 elephants have been killed and over 4,500 of the majestic animals may have perished in the last 50 years. The island nation’s elephant population is commonly estimated at 4,000.

Conservationists have expressed alarm at the diminishing elephant population and the continued decimation of these animals, which averages three a week and includes bull elephants, which comprise some 67 percent of the animal death toll.

'If the slaughter of elephants continues unabated, there will be too few bulls left to ensure that all the available females are successfully mated. This will lead to a reduction in the rate of conception and a longer intercalving interval,' the Department said.

According to the Department of Wildlife Conservation as the elephants’ habitat shrinks due to development and herds are increasingly broken into smaller groups, they find themselves forced into small patches of jungle, separated by farmlands. Elephants rely on feeding areas passed down through generations, and are not easily deterred by human settlements from traveling along the traditional routes. With their keen memory, they never forget where easy food from plantations and crops can be found.

'With their movement restricted, especially when food and water resources are depleted, elephants wander into new cultivated areas, which were their former habitat, in search of food. Elephants find ready source of food in these cultivated areas,' the Department said in a report, ‘Elephant Conservation: An Overview’, which tackles the human-elephant conflict.

It added that with their humongous appetite, elephants could easily destroy large farmlands in a single night, when they feel free to roam these areas.

'The conflict between man and elephant has become the most serious conservation problems facing the Department of Wildlife Conservation in Sri Lanka, where a combination of deforestation, agricultural expansion, and human population growth has substantially reduced the habitat that was once available to the elephant,' said the report.

Various methods have been used to ease the impact of the man-elephant conflict, including relocation of elephants, digging trenches around an elephant habitat and creating elephant corridors to allow the pachyderms to cross between jungles.

Electric fencing is being promoted as one of the most effective ways of preventing damages and loss of both human and elephant lives from elephant encroachment.

The elephant fence came to Dennawa by chance. Plan International, a global organisation helping children, assisted the village to set up a new water distribution system. But when officials arrived to commission the new water scheme, they were informed that a pregnant woman had been killed in an elephant attack. Pleas for a fence poured in and funds began coming in.

It was initially planned that the fences would be monitored by a children’s organisation in the village, but eventually the responsibility fell on de Silva, whose slight built defies the challenge that has been thrust upon him.

Each farmer in Dennawa contributes 360 Sri Lankan rupees (three U.S. dollars) a year, for the upkeep of the protective structures. De Silva makes sure that the fence stretch protecting the village, about three km long, is in proper order, breaks are mended, the solar panels that power the batteries are in working condition and the underbrush on the side of the fence is cleaned out.

'The farmers who have their land right next to the fences or close by will help maintain it,' de Silva told IPS, 'but others with land away from the fence are not that enthusiastic as they were. If the fence is not in place, the elephants will come back. There is no doubt about it.'

Setting up fences is 'very cost-effective,' said W. S. D. Pathirana, deputy director of the Wild Life Department. 'A fence can last for as long as 25 years if it is properly maintained.' So far, over 500 km of fencing have been erected all over the South Asian island state to ward off problem elephants from straying into cultivated land in search of food that has become scarce in their natural habitat. Plans are afoot to erect over 200 km more.

Conservationists say that the best method to stem the mass death of elephants is either to prevent human encroachment into elephant habitat or remove settlements that go with it. But with land at a premium, that is unlikely to be a practical option. For now, fencing seems to be the best option, as it allows both humans and animals to live together in peace.

© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

Where next?

Advertisement