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| Sunday, 15 September 2002 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Memoirs of a game ranger : Bear Tales by E. Desmond White, Former Park Warden, Yala According to the information received they had been a bit high on the 'weed' and on the way, at dusk, Menika had trod on this reptile which had stung him on his leg.
In the good old days, the protection of Wildlife came under the purview of the Forest Department. Subsequently it was decided to form a separate Dept. resulting in the formation of the Dept. of Wildlife in the year 1950 with Mr. C. W. Nicholas being appointed as its first Warden, (now Director). Thereafter to date, this small Dept., during its existence of about 50 years, has had a total of 23 Directors of varied attitudes and aptitudes. Bear tales Anyone engaged in the task of protecting wildlife is bound to have varied interesting experiences, both with beast and man, and I was no exception. I will now attempt to capture some of these events as concisely as possible and let me commence with sloth bears.Bear tales are intriguing and scary as was my first experience with them. We were returning to base at dusk when the headlights of the jeep picked up reflections from a pair of eyes atop a 'palu' tree, and it was the 'palu' fruit season. The older hands in the vehicle in unions exclaimed: Bear! We decided to stop and take a closer look and keeping the jeep lights on we surrounded the tree confident that the bear would not come down, but to our horror, the bear growling menacingly slid down the tree and very nearly attacked the nearest Guard, who warded off the animal with shouts and a stout stick. Luckily for us the bear cub that had remained concealed slid down the tree causing mother bear to divert her attention towards the little fellow and go after it into the thicket. It was obvious that the aggressiveness of the she bear was due to the presence of its cub stranded on the tree.
At the same time it put to rest the belief that a bear atop a tree would not come down from its perch if it saw human beings underneath. Funny though it may seem now, utter nausea was what my boss the late G.N.Q. and I felt at another point in time, when a bear with its greed for 'palu' fruits, with uncanny aim showered us ingloriously with its excreta. We had stopped to observe this bear who was on a branch of a 'palu' tree overhanging the jeep track when it unexpectedly purged, probably due to fright. 'Palu' fruit taken excessively is known to act as a purgative as must have been the case here as both of us were thoroughly drenched with this dark foul-smelling fluid. We were quite embarrassed as we made a beeline to the Buttuwa rock pond to wash the jeep and ourselves. Bears are the least carnivorous of the carnivore. I have observed them to suck bones and eat a small quantity of flesh. When food is scarce they have been seen occasionally feeding off the carcases of animals. In the wild their favourite food consists of bees' honey, termite grubs and ripe berries of which 'palu' is a speciality. They also feed on insects and larvae, fruits, flowers, bulbs and roots. They have rudimentary incisor teeth and a mobile snout enabling them to effectively use their mouth and snout as a suction pump to extract bees' honey and grubs as well as termite grubs. Bears drink liquids by sucking and not lapping. When the late Percy de Alwis was in charge of Yala he reared a bear once. He used to give us amusing anecdotes of how this animal when unleashed would gorge on waste engine oil from his garage, resulting in a few days purging but with no side effects. I have seen it eagerly await the arrival of the Hoffmans who used to bring a crate of condensed milk and when given a tin with its lid pierced would lie on its back sucking the sweetened contents and whining like a puppy all the while. One day when I stopped to pet it on my way to the "wewa" for a bath this bear even munched and ate my piece of scented soap, when I had taken my eyes off it for a moment. Bears are also very inquisitive creatures and are known to walk up to buildings and campsites. Once we were in the Yala Strict Natural Reserve on an exploratory trip when one night we had to camp on a large rock. We had a staff of about 10 persons and had three large log fires burning around us to ward off wild animals, reptiles etc. Around midnight the late 'Bedi Somapala' and I were up and heard the sound of claws on rock. We had to shout and throw lighted fire brands to scare away a bear who had decided to stroll into our midst. Game Ranger Felix Fernando, enjoyed sleeping on the verandah of his quarters when one night he awoke to find a bear inside the house and had to scare it away by firing his. 22 rifle which he always kept beside him at night. There have been instances of bears being aggressive and ferocious for no apparent reason. Game Guard "Garuwa" of Kumana had been clawed and bitten by a bear resulting in the loss of his arm. Another Game Guard Piyadasa had a narrow escape being able to ward off an attack by a bear by using his bicycle as a weapon of defence. It is very difficult to ward off attacks by bear when you are unarmed as it growls menacingly rears up on its hind legs and uses its long claws and also its teeth to attack. There have been instances of bears dislodging the eye balls of their victims when attacking. |
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The late Mr. A. S. A. Packeer, a pioneer in the Wildlife Dept., began
his career as a qualified teacher on the staff of St. Thomas' College,
Gurutalawa. He joined the Forest Dept. as a Junior Asst. Conservator of
Forests (Fauna and Flora) in the year 1948 and branched off to the Dept.
of Wildlife during its formative year of 1950, in the capacity of Asst.
Warden. A man of generous proportions, humane and kind to his
subordinates, he made his silent contributions to the Dept., mainly
regarding legal work and earned himself the title of 'Legal Eagle' of the
Dept. He passed away in July 2001 relatively unheard of and unsung, whilst
in retirement.
