Death tolls mount as elephants and people compete for land in Sri Lanka
Death tolls mount as elephants and people compete for land in Sri Lanka
Thaslima Begum, The Guardian
March 19, 2024
See link
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/19/sri-lanka-elephants-people-deaths-natural-resources-climate-crisis-coexistence-aoe
for photos.
Setting out from home to collect firewood on a cool spring morning last
year, Harshini Wanninayake and her mother had no idea only one of them
would come back alive. The pair were walking to a nearby forest from
Eriyawa, a village in north-west Sri Lanka, when they heard a loud rustling
close by.
“It came out of nowhere,” says Wanninayake. “The elephant was behind the
thicket and took us completely by surprise.”
The elephant lunged towards Wanninayake’s elderly mother, who tried to
scramble out of the way but was knocked over. “It ran off, trampling her in
the process,” says Wanninayake, who ran screaming to get help. When she
returned with her brothers, it was too late – their mother was already dead
and the elephant was gone.
“We found her still body on the ground, battered and bruised. All her bones
were broken,” says Wanninayake, who is still shaken by the attack.
In Sri Lanka, the delicate balance of human-elephant coexistence is facing
unprecedented threats. Last year, 176 people died in elephant encounters on
the island, and 470 elephants were killed – more than double the number of
elephant deaths in 2010.
The rising death toll over the past four years has made Sri Lanka the worst
country for human-elephant conflict in the world.
Habitat loss, deforestation, competition for land and shrinking resources
have fuelled tensions. In 1997, Sri Lanka’s forests were estimated by the
UN to cover nearly 20,000 sq km (7,000 sq miles), or 30% of its total land
area; by 2022, it had lost 2,100 sq km of tree cover.
In January, scientists published new research concluding that
human-elephant clashes would intensify as the climate crisis worsened.
“We can see the impact of climate change all around us,” says Dr
Prithiviraj Fernando, chair of Sri Lanka’s Centre for Conservation and
Research, who has studied elephants for more than 30 years.
“Fertile land for food production is dwindling. With rivers drying up and
rainfall patterns becoming more erratic, water has also become a
contentious issue,” he says.
As more elephant habitats are cleared for cultivation, the animals are
forced to trek through human settlements to access food and water. Often,
they are attracted to the crops and grain stored in the homesteads they
encounter.
Late one night in Nakolagane, about two miles from Eriyawa, Kayakodi Thegis
heard a disturbance in his back garden. The 70-year-old went outside with
his torch to investigate, and looked up to find an elephant towering above
him.
“He was flung across the vegetable patch and trampled,” says Ajith
Thushara, the victim’s nephew, who witnessed the attack. “We found his
crushed body by the back door.”
The elephant had been raiding the garden’s jackfruit when Thegis
unwittingly shone the torch in its direction. Flashing lights are
increasingly seen as a hostile threat by elephants, says Fernando.
“When elephants come to raid fields, farmers typically flash torches to
sight the elephant and then confront it, throwing stones and firecrackers
or shooting at it. Elephants now negatively associate the shining of a
torch and respond with aggression.”
Raiding gardens and fields of crops has become increasingly common in the
area, as a result of forest land being cleared illegally. Recently,
thousands of hectares of forest were illegally cleared in Nakolagane, with
the areas leased for construction projects or growing commercial crops.
This obstructs crucial elephant corridors.
To protect their crops and keep marauding elephants at bay, some frightened
farmers have taken to creating deadly homemade elephant traps. In
Hambantota, on the south-east coast, a man recently connected his household
electricity supply to a fence encroaching on a recognised elephant
corridor, killing four elephants in one day. He was let off with a small
fine.
Killing an elephant in Sri Lanka is punishable by imprisonment but
typically a more lenient sentence or fine is handed down. But illegal
measures to ward off the animals have been increasing, and becoming
increasingly violent. Recent incidents include elephants being shot,
poisoned or killed with “jaw bombs” – explosives hidden in food as bait
that explode inside the elephant’s mouth.
“Such activities are inhumane and can never be the solution,” says
Fernando. “Even economically, it makes no sense: elephants are the star
attraction of our tourism industry, bringing in much needed foreign
exchange. We need them more than they need us.”
Last year, the hotel Uga Ulagalla collaborated with Fernando to open the
country’s first elephant research centre. Located in Anuradhapura, in
northern Sri Lanka, experts have been working with the community to help
conserve the local elephant population.
Together, they are tracking elephants, looking at how and where they
congregate, their seasonal movements and feeding grounds.
Community fences, constructed and maintained by local people, prevent
elephants from entering their land. The fences are powered by a battery,
rather than mains electricity, to give a mild shock that scares elephants
away harmlessly.
“The key to maintaining successful conservation practices is garnering
buy-in from local people,” says Fernando. “We must learn to live together
peacefully.
“If things continue as they are, up to 70% of Sri Lanka’s elephants will be
lost. Human-elephant coexistence is the only way forward.”