Animals and culture - a Sri Lankan perspective

[Continued from last week ]

By Jayantha Jayewardene

Human - animal relationships and conflicts

The perception of human-wildlife conflicts is when wildlife act in a way that is detrimental to humans.

However, when humans do something such as shooting at or killing any form of wildlife, it is not considered a conflict. Poaching animals for their meat or certain parts of their body such as skin, tusks and feathers is not seen by humans as causing a conflict. However should a leopard Panthera pardus kill a dog, a calf or a goat for its food, this act is seen as a conflict that humans have with leopards.

Humans go into the forest and, apart from killing birds and mammals, take forest produce such as yams, fruits, bee's honey etc. However if deer, wild boar, elephants etc. encroach into human cultivations this is considered a part of the human - wildlife conflicts.

Human - wildlife conflicts are those that humans have with the larger animals. In Sri Lanka it is perceived as a conflict when elephants Elephas maximus, deer Axis axis, sambur Cervus uncolor and wild boar Sus scrofa come and destroy crops. When leopards Panthera pardus take away livestock it s considered a conflict.

Elephants destroy crops on a much larger scale compared to the others and create a greater perception of conflict. The number of humans killed by elephants each year, on an average, in Sri Lanka is 65.

The number of humans killed by snakebite in Sri Lanka is around 120 (Anslem de Silva, pers comm). However it is man's conflict with elephants that the media highlights regularly. Also these are the conflicts that hit the public eye.

The Toque macaque (Macaca sinica) has increased in number and troops are now found in urban and semi-urban areas in search of food. They are very bold and aggressive. They attempt to bite people who try to drive them away from their homes. They remove the tiles on roofs, raid kitchens for food and also cause damage and destruction in many other forms.

In Sri Lanka many homes have animals as pets. Dogs and cats apart, parrots, mynahs, budgerigars and the smaller squirrel are kept as pets. Parrots and mynahs are in some cases taught to repeat some words.

Monkeys and langurs are kept as pets. Keeping aquarium fish as pets is a popular hobby among Sri Lankans. Keeping animal pets have been a part of Sri Lankan culture for thousands of years. Rich families in Sri Lanka even keep elephants as pets.

One school of thought is that by keeping pets one understands them better. On the other hand some others think that confining an animal which is born to live freely in its natural habitat should not be confined to a small space for life merely for the enjoyment of humans.

There is a big difference between the keeping of wild animals as pets and keeping domesticated animals as pets.

Animal sacrifices

During the time of Buddha, circa 500 BC, the Vedic religion of the Brahmin priesthood in India had become degenerate and suppressive and engaged in frequent animal sacrifices. The Buddha is reputed to have denounced the Vedic religion at the time.

He especially denounced the religious animal sacrifices so common during those days. "Immense sacrificial ceremonies, such as the sacrifice of the horse ashvameda, through which the Brahmans imposed their power, ruined the states financially.

There are many references in the Bible of animal and even human sacrifices being made to God. Animal sacrifices continue in India, Sri Lanka and Nepal. However there is much agitation against such sacrificial practices especially of goats at Hindu festivals in Sri Lanka.

In the larger picture, how many times have we looked the other side when we have seen innocent dumb animals i.e. cattle, buffaloes, goats, pigs and even chickens being led to slaughter in overcrowded vehicles, resigned to their fate but nevertheless looking at us pleadingly using only body language and figuratively suggesting to us in one final appeal to our humanity to save their precious lives. We often see birds, rabbits, puppies and other animals crowded into a small cage and kept for sale in so called pet shops.

Dogs

Almost every school in rural Sri Lanka has a few dogs. Though there is no specific owner somehow these dogs are fed. I do not know where they get food from during the school holidays.

Most of these dogs are not looked after and often carry open wounds and injuries. Nevertheless, impounding, euthanising or even sterilisation of such dogs is opposed vehemently by animal-welfare activists, with little thought for the actual welfare of the animals concerned and the suffering they undergo.

Some dogs that we see are not strays but they are dogs that are with a particular community. They are only fed by that community with no other attention paid, but have a sense of loyalty to them. They are community watchdogs and warn the community, by barking, when there are outsiders and intruders.

In Sri Lanka we see packs of feral dogs wandering around hunting for food. They hole up in various places during the day and get together during the night to go on their forays. No dog from outside the pack is tolerated or even spared. They raid all dumped garbage looking for food and also kill and eat small mammals.

Feeding animals

Though the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance in Sri Lanka prohibits people from feeding wild animals there are a number of instances where wild animals are fed by humans. Feeding wild animals is done through sympathy, to gain merit and through thoughtlessness.

If one thinks a little one will realise that if we feed wild animals and at sometime stop feeding them, they will continue to expect the food that they are used to. This Malthusian dynamic seems harmless at least in the context of people leaving food for animals in their gardens.

Obviously feeding wild animals in the wild is wrong. In any case, when it comes to wild animals, people feed mainly birds, and I have not seen a single study that shows this does any harm. When feeding is not continued the animals will come looking for food and sometimes become aggressive in their search for food.

We see wild elephants being fed at an electric fence at the Uda Walawe National Park by some of those passing along the road.

This feeding has been going on for the past 12 years and no elephant has made an attempt to come through the fence. There are 32 identified elephants that come to the fence daily, are fed on fruits and leave after an hour or so.

Then there are the elephants that come regularly to garbage pits that are on the outskirts of the cities of Polonnaruwa, Hambantota, Habarana, Dambulla and Kantalai, which are close to their habitats and feed on the garbage dumped irresponsibly by the local authorities. That is a form of indirect feeding.

There are deer that have come many years ago from the wild and stayed on in a British Fort in Trincomalee. They have now spilled over to the areas outside the Fort as well and regularly visit the restaurants and fruit and vegetable stall in the town where they are fed by the owners.

In Sigiriya, the ancient kingdom on the rock, and at the holy city of Kataragama monkeys and langurs are fed by devotees with flowers and fruits that are offered to the Gods.

In the holy city of Kataragama popcorn is bought by devotees who in turn feed them to the fish in the Menik Ganga (river) which runs through Kataragama. Some feel that this act would give them merit and others feel that it washes away their sins.

Whatever it is the fish population increases but when the pilgrim season is over the now increased population of fish will have to move along the river in search of food and find it.

A wick dipped in ghee is fed to the crows so that it feels full in the stomach. However, the crow finds it extremely difficult to pass out the undigested wick. Such attention is paid to the crow since it is believed that it is the vehicle of the planet (grahaya) Senasura.

Household pests

There are a few pests that live in our households. They are not large but can be beneficial but also some irritating and dangerous to human lives. There are mosquitoes inside and outside our houses. They breed even in a small container of water. It is only the female mosquito that bites humans.

She needs the protein found in blood to develop her eggs. Males feed on nectar. Mosquitoes can transmit diseases through their bite. These include Malaria, Yellow Fever, West Nile Fever, Dengue and many more. In fact it is reported that mosquitoes are responsible for more human deaths than all wars combined.

There are a number of different ant species in the world. There are a number of these species that visit or live permanently in human homes. Ants are beneficial to humans. They suppress other pest populations and aerate the soil.

On the other hand, ants become nuisances when they invade buildings, or cause economic losses. Some ants have toxic venom and are of medical importance. Although most ants survive attempts by humans to eradicate them, only a few are highly endangered.

Cockroaches are one of the most common household pests. They feed on human and pet food and can leave an offensive odor.

They can also passively transport microbes on their body surfaces including those that are potentially dangerous to humans, particularly in environments such as hospitals. Cockroaches are linked with allergic reactions in humans. One of the proteins that trigger allergic reactions is tropomyosin.

Animals used for research

Proponents of animal research are varied and well funded. Their lobbying interest reflects concern for profit while throwing compassion and even human health to the wind.

However due to the widespread agitation against the indiscriminate use of animals for medical and other research, there is a growing realisation that this practice is harmful to animals.

A significant reduction in the use of animals for research is now observed. The use of amphibians to teach anatomy in schools has now been abandoned altogether.Lion cultures persist in many countries despite a historical absence of lions in those countries. For example, the British Royal Coat of Arms, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Republic of the Congo etc.

Lion are depicted in sculptures in ancient Sri Lankan cities such as Polonnaruwa and Sigiriya. In Sigiriya one has to climb up to the top of the rock between the large paws of a lion.

This photograph of these sculptured lions depicted at Polonnaruwa, for example, suggests the sculptor had never seen a lion, whereas the elephants, horses etc are quite realistic. Finally, Sri Lanka has a unique situation where its people take their name from the lion. This is an animal whose only recorded presence in the island is from a tooth, now at the British Museum and dated 150,000 years ago. Sinhaya is the Sinhala word for lion, Sinhalese are the people of the country, Sinhala, the language that is used.

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(The writer is Managing Trustee, Biodiversity & Elephant Conservation TrustSri Lanka)