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| Sunday, 12 September 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Battle of the unequals As mega development schemes expand into once protected areas, humans and elephants are paying the price,with their lives. by Vimukthi Fernando
They live under the shadow of one of the 'safest' places on earth, the rock citadel of King Kassapa. But, life is no longer 'safe' here. Not on the road, nor in the paddy fields and chenas. Not even in their own homes. Sandya Samarakoon of Pothana, Sigiriya stands near the well in the backyard of her home. Remnants of a small hut lay about 20 meters ahead. Part of the field, yet to be harvested, seems to have been abandoned. A torrent of tears gush from her reddened eyes. "It was about 3.15 a.m. when I went to sleep after speaking with my husband. But, I could not fall asleep. I heard a sound of something breaking and went to alert him. It was about 3.30 a.m." But it was too late for A. J. Illangasinghe Banda, Sandya's husband of 20 years. Within 15 minutes, Banda became prey to the hunger and the wrath of a marauding elephant. His body was found about an hour later in a most unlikely place, less than 15 meters from their house. It happened just 19 days ago, says Sandya.
M.G. Mudiyanse (70) and W.G. Heen Menike (60) of 5th Mile Post, Sigiriya are still visibly shaken by the experience they had had a few nights ago. A four legged giant, "about nine feet tall," had visited the aged couple. Four gunny bags of paddy, a wall about 12 feet long and eight feet high, a bed, a cupboard and kitchen utensils came under his attack. "Luckily my husband did not sleep in the room," says Heen Menike showing us the debris. All that remains of a bronze pot about three feet in diameter and used for boiling paddy, is a flattened scrap of metal. "If not for the floodlights, I would have been dead," says Suranga Indrajith (23), of 4th Mile post, Sigiriya, explaining his close shave with 'Thaniya', the lone elephant, the previous night. The whole area was alight owing to activities in the newly established Craft Village. It had been too early to expect elephants, when Suranga had heard a rustle near the bamboo grove in the garden. "I took one or two steps from the gate, and encountered 'Thaniya', who chased after me. I ran home. Closed the door, and shouted at my brother, who was about to come from the boutique on the opposite side of the road."
Life is disrupted, and fear rules the community in and around Sigiriya. Roads which were previously safe are now traversed only by the brave (or the drunkards) after 6.30 p.m. "After darkness the elephants are here like cattle," says W.G. Gnanalatha of Kimbissa. Her house, on Sigiriya-Habarana main road, was attacked a month ago by two elephants. Man and elephant lived in harmony with nature for centuries. Sigiriya surrounded by wilderness and in close proximity to the protected areas Somawathiya, Minneriya Giritale and Kaudulla was already a sanctuary even before its declaration by the Gazette Extraordinary of January 26, 1990, says P. Dharmadasa, Retired Principal of the Sigiriya Central College and Assistant Director of Education of Kimbissa, Sigiriya. The village was the King's 'vee bissa' (paddy store) which later became known as Kimbissa, he explains. "Those days, we had to go to a tank bunt during the dry season to sight an elephant. If at all one met an elephant on the road, it was on a very lonely and remote stretch, and in the dead of the night." Seventy-year-old Mudiyanse, agrees with Dharmadasa. "In all my life, this is the first time I am witnessing such rampage. Though they used to come for our crops sometimes, we could frighten them off. It is in the last five to seven months that they have begun coming to houses instead of chenas or fields." Though death by elephant attack is not very frequent, the attacks on houses, especially kitchens have risen sharply in the past one to one and a half years, say the villagers. From April to end of July 2004, wild elephants damaged 194 houses in and around Sigiriya, says Ven. Dr. Daniyagama Ananda Thera, chief incumbent of the Pidurangala Temple. His record of damages to houses, property and cultivations from January 2003, totals 479 house and property and 1,275 cultivations. Many of these damages go unregistered, say officials from the District Secretariat, Dambulla. "We hear of elephant attacks almost every day." There should be a reason for the sudden increase in elephant attacks, says Ananda Thera. "There is something wrong somewhere." There are many reasons compounding the human-elephant conflict in the area, says Upali Pathmasiri, Park Warden of the Minneriya National Park. The drought is rather severe this time. The elephants are losing their food and forest cover. They need about 150 kilograms of food per night. Sub-adult bull elephants take the risk to obtain high quality nutritious food. Paddy fields and chenas are like a supermarket for them. Furthermore, this is an area where much training is carried out by the armed forces and the elephants are used to noise and light. There are many disturbances in the surrounding wilderness which Sigiriya sanctuary does not have. So, they naturally get attracted to it, he reasons. However, clandestine activities carried out in the forest, negligence of competent authorities, and practices of some parties with private interest who have the blessings of the different authorities and the politicians, have augmented the conflict, claim villagers. After Sigiriya was declared a sanctuary many elephants from elephant orphanages were relocated in Sigiriya. "There are at least 10 elephants familiar with the human scent and we cannot chase them away. When we beat a tin sheet, it is to scare the elephants, but these (elephants) are used to the sound calling them for their milk food. They run towards the sound expecting food and play havoc if they don't find it," says E.K.G. Mahinda from Kalapura, Sigiriya, whose house was attacked twice during the past one and a half years. The villagers also allege that a hotel with an 'eco tourism' label situated in the catchment area of one of the large reservoirs in Sigiriya is in the practice of dumping salt and fruit at a jungle clearance to attract elephants, which compounds the conflict. "Elephant attacks were unheard of in Kimbissa and Pothana. But, it started after the establishment of the hotel. And now, about 200 to 300 acres of paddy land is abandoned," says the incumbent priest of the Kimbissa Temple. The site where they empty the dustbins is "at the end of Thekka Watta (teak plantation of the Forest Department). There is another site, on a rock near Maanaawa Tank," says the incumbent priest of Uppula Devi Temple, Galkotuwa, Sigiriya. "When there is nothing to eat at the dump site, the elephants come here (into the village). And we cannot even light a torch. The elephants start running towards the light the moment it is lit. Because they (the hoteliers) light torches after taking the salt and fruit into the jungle," alleges W.M.G. Sumanawathie of Kimbissa. It is not only the hoteliers, elephant safari owners are also at fault, says Dharmadasa. "They empty dustbins and other kinds of food in the shrub jungle near Minneriya-Giritale reserve. When the elephants are drawn to the food, they earn a lot of money from showing them to foreigners." Private teak plantations also augment the problem, the villagers allege. "They cut down the shrub jungle which provide food and cover for the elephants and erect electric fences to keep them off teak-plantations. It is us poor people who lose the little cultivation we have," laments D.M. Sarath Dassanayake of Alakolawewa. Lack of protection is another factor which increases elephant attacks, the people argue. "Now we are scared of the elephants. The wildlife officers do not issue thunder flashers any more. Previously anyone who cultivated over three acres had a licensed gun with them, but not any more," says Dharmadasa. "If we want to get a thunder flasher from the wildlife office, we have to take a written request from the Samurdhi officer or Grama Niladhari and pay for the flashers," says Priyanga Ratnayake, from Alakolawewa. "What I have seen in my 17 years here is that they have a love hate relationship with the elephants," says Ananda Thera of Pidurangala. "Previously, they had small guns to protect themselves. When elephants were shot at, it was to scare them away, not to harm. Now they have no way of protecting themselves, so they use various methods - poison, wood planks with huge nails on their path, shooting - anything to kill, by hook or crook." The cost of protection seems to be sky rocketing. "I spend over Rs. 6,000 every month for kerosene. Over a barrel is needed per month to protect my cultivation," says D.M. Madduma Banda, who has devised a special kind of 'flash lamp' to protect his mixed cultivation of four acres. He uses eight large batteries for his torch, the only 'protection' from elephants. Compensation for damages is another disturbing factor. "This pot, will cost about Rs. 3,000 in the market," says Heen Menike, about her bronze pot. "It will cost over Rs. 35,000 to rebuild this wall," says P.A. Sunethra Podimenike of Kimbissa, showing the wall damaged by the elephant. But, the question is how much of compensation will they get. "The maximum compensation anyone had received is about Rs. 750 for a wall. If all three walls are damaged, they will get about Rs. 1,500," says Ananda Thera. "There was a case where a boy who lost his arm was paid only Rs. 1,500," say officials from the District Secretary. There is no Authority is there at the moment to provide any compensation for people affected, be it the Department of Wild Life Conservation (DWLC) or the Department of Social Services (DSS). The reason is lack of money. While the DSS has not received any money from the Treasury, the DWLC is awaiting a bill to be passed by Parliament allowing the treasury to issue money for a new compensation scheme. The previous scheme providing compensation for damages to houses, deaths and disabilities through the National Insurance Corporation for which the Wild Life Trust paid about Rs. 6 million per year, was found faulty and had been stopped since August, 2003 say DWLC sources. So, the conflict rages on, taking its toll of human and elephant life. Five elephants were reported killed in and around Sigiriya from January to August, say officials from the District Secretariat. Two human deaths were also recorded during the period. About 50 to 60 humans and about 150 elephants die every year, as a result of the conflict, say DWLC sources. Though many a method has been employed to mitigate the conflict, the toll (stays) the same. (Source: Island-wide Survey on Human and Elephant Deaths, 2004 by W. Hendavitharana Sociologist DWLC). |
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