Social media to the rescue

Public outcry against wildlife hunting, law enforcement weak:

by Uditha Kumarasinghe

The Ministry of Sustainable Development and Wildlife will introduce stringent laws to deal with the rapidly increasing poaching of wild animals, following the arrest of six persons for killing wild animals in the Knuckles Conservation Forest. These pictures were widely circulated on Facebook recently. Environmentalists are of the opinion that there is no increase in hunting incidents in Sri Lanka, but an increase in detections which is a good trend. They say, the present Wildlife Ordinance is quite sufficient to cover all hunting incidents, but the problem lies with the enforcement of the law.

Meanwhile, Sustainable Development and Wildlife Minister Gamini Jayawickrama Perera has appreciated the contribution made by the social media, including Facebook, to create a public opinion against the hunting of wild animals in the country, following the arrest of a group of people captured with the hunted animals, as posted in Facebook. Six were arrested for killing wild animals in the Knuckles Conservation Forest whose photos were circulated on Facebook recently. Several pictures of the suspects with meat of various animals went viral on social media sites creating a massive uproar among the public. The suspects were remanded until July 7 after being produced before the Teldeniya Magistrate. Following this incident, the Ministry decided to impose stringent laws against those torturing, harassing and killing animals in the wilds.

The Minister stressed the importance of reforming the outdated laws on poaching. A panel has been appointed to reform the 30-year-old Wild Life Act. Minister Perera pointed out that support of the Police to investigate wildlife crimes is being enlisted and the offenders will be severely dealt with. He said, legal advice will be sought to ban the use of air rifles as they are a danger to humans as well as animals. He warned, such weapons can also be dangerous in the hands of the youth, as in the US. Environmental lawyer Jagath Gunawardena told the Sunday Observer, there is no increase in hunting incidents in Sri Lanka, but an increase in detections, which is a good trend. He said, hunting is still going on and some offenders never get caught. The present Wildlife Ordinance is quite sufficient to deal with all hunting incidents, but the problem lies with the enforcement of the law. If it is implemented properly and efficiently, the problems could be addressed satisfactorily.

Enforcement authorities are largely restrained or constrained by various inadequacies, such as, lack of resources, mobility, morale, official interference and so on. Sections 30, 31, 31 A, 31 B and 12 of the Ordinance protect the threatened species. In Sri Lanka, hunting has been allowed only on non-protected species of animals. But, there are restrictions, no hunting can be done at night, near water-holes using poison or explosives. So, there are limitations.

Environmentalists have stressed the need for wildlife officers to enlist the support of the Armed Forces and Police where necessary. The wildlife officers should be empowered to carry out raids even in eateries selling animal flesh and also places where carcasses are stored. Meanwhile, a reliable source confirmed that poachers are active in Yala, the Knuckles Range, Panwila, Sinharaja, Wasgamuwa and Hambantota wildlife parks and forest reserves. He said, some endemic animals have been wiped out in these areas due to poaching which also disturbed the food chain eco-system. The wildlife officers needed more training in the use of weapons and combating poachers. According to the Flora and Fauna Protection Act, the killing of any animal with poison is illegal while catching fish using poison is also outlawed by the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Act, and culprits could be fined, as well as imprisoned.

However, environmentalists claimed illegal wildlife trade was still on the rise, with Sri Lanka fast becoming a hub. They pointed out the lack of law enforcement and regulation as the root cause of the problem.

According to a report on "Rise of Environmental Crime" by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and INTERPOL in 2016, the cost of the global environmental crimes was estimated to be as high as $258 billion, 26 percent higher than previous estimations. Environmental crime encompasses illegal wildlife trade, forest crimes, exploitation of minerals, illegal fisheries, trafficking of hazardous waste and carbon credit fraud.

Law enforcement agencies as well as environmentalists have underlined the need to integrate the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora (CITES) into local legislation to combat the problem. Internal administrative issues, including the resignation of Director General of Wildlife, have caused instability in the Sustainable Development and Wildlife Ministry. It has led to delaying the drafting of CITES to include it into domestic legislation.