His last story

by Dhaneshi Yatawara

Journalist Priyantha Rathnayake’s tragic death adds a new twist to the human-elephant conflict and brings up the issue of the safety of provincial journalists

The human-elephant conflict took a dramatic turn last week, when journalist Priyantha Ratnayake, who had made the human-elephant conflict his specialty was attacked by and killed by an elephant which frequented a village. Ratnayake had done extensive stories on elephants invading and attacking villages. However, the tragedy that unfolded on Tuesday was rather unfortunate.

Although many news reports stated that the elephant stormed the village, video clips, which were uploaded on the internet by midday Tuesday showed no signs of the aggressive behavior of the animal. A video showed the elephant peacefully trekking between two houses, while a man was standing partly covered by a house, just a few metres behind the elephant. What happened next is left to the imagination. Ratnayake had been mauled by the elephant and he had lost his life in the melee. What was reported in the media was that the elephant had left the crime scene and entered the Minneriya park after six hours.

According to villagers of the Papisiya wewa village in Minneriya, the elephant is called Raja by the villagers. Wildlife Department officials however have not named the jumbo, who they claim was a frequent visitor in that part of the Minneriya forest.

The sad part is that Ratnayake was a correspondent for a number of print and electronic media institutions and has won awards for his efficient and effective reporting. He was well- known for his 'nose for news' approach and for fulfilling his obligations.

Life was not a bed of roses for Ratnayake, but his track record clearly showed he was a dedicated, hard working journalist proud of his professional achievements. His instinct to cover issues for the community were also well- known and his editors waited for his stories.

Priyantha being rushed to hospital

Priyantha’s wife and three children

Ratnayake was not an amateur with regard to reporting the human - elephant conflict, especially the situation at ground level. "He worked closely with us and always went to report on elephants with the wildlife team," said Gamini Wickramathilake, warden of the Minneriya National Park.

Rushed to hospital

"A group of provincial correspondents reached the village ahead of a team of wildlife officers and this was unusual" Wickramathilake said. "A villager telephoned me at 6 a.m. to inform us about an elephant roaming the village.

"Immediately, the team gathered the necessary stuff including crackers and tranquilizers to be used if necessary. By the time the wildlife team reached the village located 22 km from the Wildlife office, which was within 40 minutes, the villagers were carrying injured Ratnayake out of the village. He was rushed to hospital in the police jeep," he said. Though Ratnayake was rushed to the Hingurakgoda hospital, he succumbed to injuries on admission.

Meanwhile, Wildlife officers said the this elephant was a usual sight in that part of the jungle. According to Wickramatilake, who had been deployed in the area for the past two years, the jumbo hardly roamed the villages and is usually a calm animal. "Even while roaming around Papisiya wewa, the jumbo had not damaged property. Unfortunately, on that day it only targeted Ratnayake and no one can figure out what triggered the animal to react violently," he said. The village is protected by an electric fence and wildlife officials believe that it would have crossed into the village under the railway bridge, which is wide and high enough for a jumbo. The area is known as 'Akkara 70', in the Paluwewa area which is in close proximity to the Papisiya wewa, village" he said.

"After we reached the village, we got the animal close to the electric fence and with the help of Civil Defence Force personnel in the area, we opened the fence. But the animal started walking towards the main road and got on to the road.

Amidst vehicles and people passing by, the jumbo made its way to the Minneriya National Park through one of its gates in a peaceful manner. The animal's reaction to the incident had not made him wild but he was calm," he said.

Video clips recorded on that day, which were uploaded on the internet showed that Ratnayake was wearing a red cap and a white T shirt, which is not the normal dress code when engaging with wild animals. Being an experienced person in such coverages, it is difficult to believe that Ratnayake was ignorant of these basic rules. Ratnakayake lost his life at the age of 46 and his three children lost their father.

House will be gifted

Media Minister, Gayantha Karunathilake expressing his condolences over Ratnayake's death said that a house will be gifted to the aggrieved family as they have been living on rent all these years.

He added that the government would take measures to build a house for them. Ratnayake's death brought up numerous issues, such as safety of reporters on dangerous assignment. Expressing their condolences to Ratnayake's family, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Free Media Movement (FMM) urge media organisations on safety training in 'risk situation' reporting.

The IFJ urged employers to provide compensation to the family and emphasised the need for media institutions to assess the safety situation for journalists before sending them to report in areas where there are risks to their safety.

"We urge journalists to give priority to safety and follow safety rules while on dangerous assignment." stated the IFJ.FMM stressed that provincial correspondents who constantly feed news rooms with outstation news need to be given special attention as they worked under difficult situations with less facilities.

"We believe that media organisations will take appropriate action to give such training specially to provincial correspondents as they play a key role in running successful media institutions," the FMM stated.

FMM stressed that the life of a journalist was more important than any type of news they bring.