Eth Athuru Sevana of Udawalawa:

First rehabilitation centre in Asia for elephants

By Amal HEWAVISSENTI

For us Asians, the elephant has become not only a powerful cultural symbol also a mark of fortune and prosperity within traditional framework. So strongly had the elephant become associated with man since ancient history until man destroyed its natural habitats. Thereby a chapter of tragic conflicts between man and elephants began to unfold bringing chaos and devastation on both parties.

When man gradually encroached upon the elephants' natural home beyond acceptable limits, the elephants began to be violent to safeguard their habitats.

Here, the animals were utterly helpless when their number grew unhampered and their jungles became farming grounds for people. It must have been highly afflictive for elephants to realise the truth that they have to withdraw from their territories where they have been roaming feely.

Though elephants stayed confined in patches of jungles by day, they inevitably roamed their familiar territories and entered farmland for more food by night. This doubly redoubled the man -elephant conflict which ultimately proved to claim the lives of both parties. This is the most disheartening truth about the current generational of Sri Lankan elephants.

Fascinating

Elephants are really fascinating animals. What adds to the general pride of Sri Lanka is the surmised 6,000 elephants scattered in the country. This roughly accounts for ten percent of all Asian elephants and this number must be maintained, if not increased, for the future generations to see.

It is a pleasure to note that the Wild life Conservation Department has practically touched on every step to preserve the number of elephants.

In 1995, Wild life Conservation Department made arrangements to establish Asia's first rehabilitation centre for elephants on the Western border of Udawalawa National Park, This was named "Udawalawa Eth Athuru Sevana".

Calves nursed

The area selected for this project is a natural jungle area which provided enough water, vegetation, grasslands, and enough space for elephants to roam freely. The concept of establishing the elephant rehabilitation centre was pioneered by Nandana Atapattu, a veterinary surgeon who argued that offering injured or orphaned young elephants to public places was not the solution for the problem.

Accordingly Eth Athuru Sevana with least facilities was constructed to take care of diseased, injured orphaned elephants or calves and other injured animals.

The animals in this rehabilitation centre have a higher capacity to live freely and it is highly beneficial for their genetic diversity as they are brought from different regions of the country.

Apart from that, exclusive programs are conducted to educate the visitors about everything about elephants. Eth Athuru Sevana has become the third most popular and attractive spot among visitors and it records surprising income during certain seasons.

Around 220 (elephant) calves have been brought to Eth Athuru Sevana since its inception and some have been donated to the Dalada Maligawa, Muthiyanganaya and elephant orphanage at Pinnawala. Most calves die on their way to Eth Athuru Sevana and mortality among calves brought there is generally high within the first few days.

Most of them are the calves which have received deadly wounds or are critically diseased. However, the management of the rehabilitation centre assures that most of injured animals could be brought back to normalcy if they are properly nursed within the first few days.

Radio collars

For the first time in 1998, 77 orphaned baby elephants brought up in the centre were released to the jungle. Most of the baby elephants were released into the Udawalawa National Park while eight elephants were released into the Lunugam Vehera and Maduru Oya National Parks.

At the same time, special technological devices have been employed to monitor the situation of the forest and behavioural patterns of the elephants so released in a completely alien surroundings.

Before an elephant is released, a special VHF radio collar is fixed on it to monitor its location in the new forest and its responses to the new surroundings. This radio collar is effective enough to provide data of released elephants for two years.

As batteries become defunct after two years, a new radio collar has to be fixed on the elephant if the particular elephant needed further monitoring.

An exclusive apparatus in Eth Athuru Sevana receives the signals sent by the transmitter in the radio collar and it is important to note that a certain frequency applies to one elephant only.

The special apparatus produces a soft peal once it receives the signals and indicates the exact whereabouts of the animal and how far apart it is in the new jungle.

Guardianship

Dr. Vijitha Perera, the veterinary surgeon, Wildlife Conservation Department fervently believes that we can give a prominent status to Sri Lanka by preserving the elephants rather than reversing the moves to safeguard them.

He said the human-elephant conflict should by no means be allowed to wreak havoc on elephants or to debar Sri Lanka from being a major country with a large number of elephants.

"The Eth Athuru Sevana has already made arrangements to provide baby elephants with outside sponsors or guardians while they are still in the safe haven of the rehabilitation centre.

Any institution can appear as parent or guardian of selected baby elephant. Here the person or institution has the chance of giving a name to the baby elephant and monitoring progress of its growth."

"The person should bear the monthly cost of maintenance of the elephant (Twenty five thousand rupees).

At present we have found guardians for 25 baby elephants and government schools, institutions, local and foreign organisations and different persons have presented themselves as such guardians."

At the same time, the elephant rehabilitation centre has provided for educational programs being carried out for the benefit of visitors..." said Dr. Vijitha Perera.

While many rehabilitation centre for wild animals have met with little success throughout the world, 'Eth Athuru Sevana of Udawalawa has been immensely successful in this regard.

The success of such a centre depends on how it releases animals and how far it can monitor the released animals in the jungle.

The elephants released by Eth Athuru Sevana have been better capable of adjusting themselves to the new surrounding in the jungle and they do not depend on man's help as they had done earlier.

The released elephants are either living in separate groups or have joined groups of wild elephants in the park.

The management is drawing up plans to increase the number of officials in the staff and expand the land area of Eth Athuru Sevana. Here the wildlife Conservation Department is doing a praiseworthy job in implementing new projects to conserve elephants with the support of the masses.

The Department is still experimenting with ways to educate people about the value of elephants and to minimise the human-elephants conflict.