|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Friday, 14 January 2005 |
 |
|
 |
Features | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
|
Eye-openers from North-western elephant survey by Florence Wickramage
The elephant population in the North-western wildlife region is 1076 as surfaced by the recent survey carried out in this region by the Department of Wildlife Conservation, a decade after the last survey was carried out. The survey has revealed the number of tuskers at 43 among which are 34 adults. The total survey figure excludes the 220 elephants recorded from the uncleared areas of the Mannar District. Director General DWLC Dayananda Kariyawasam said that the last elephant survey was carried out in June 1993. The current survey covered five districts namely Anuradhapura, Kurunegala, Puttalam, Vavuniya and Mannar. The Wilpattu National Park which straddles both Puttalam and Anuradhapura districts is one of the major conservation areas in the region with Ritigala being the only Strict Natural Reserve managed by the DWLC. In addition, established under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance are 10 sanctuaries namely, the Giants Tank, Madhu Road, Padaviya Tank, Anuradhapura, Mihintale, Mahakandarawa, Tabbowa, Kahalla Pallekele, Anavilundawa and Kimbulwanoya, all located in the region concerned. Ecologist, DWLC S. R. B. Dissanayake in presenting the survey report at Wilpattu recently said that the main objective of this exercise was to collect information on the distribution, composition, sex-ratio, and group size of elephant populations, the number of tuskers and the reproductive health of the elephant herds in the north-western region. Dissanayake explained that the estimation of elephant abundance in the wild was not the main objective of the exercise since many of the management problems can be tackled with the help of indices of density. Survey
Thus Wilpattu does not appear to be a preferable habitat for elephants. Elephants prefer the thorn-scrub grassland habitats where food items are easily accessible. (Dayananda Kariyawasam said Wilpattu was a leopard habitat and around 20 leopards could be seen at any given time. Leopards in this national park are seen more frequently mostly attributed to the sense of security the animals have acquired by the passage of time). According to Dissanayake though ivory poaching is not a serious conservation problem in Sri Lanka, tuskers are still killed. Among the 43 tuskers there were three sub-adult and six juvenile tuskers. The percentage of adult tuskers (13.2%) is also low compared to what was found in 1993 when tuskers represented 15.3% of the bulls. Districtwise statistics of the survey has recorded a total of 613 elephants in Anuradhapura, 143 in Kurunegala, 198 in Puttalam, 71 in Vavuniya and 51 in Wilpattu. Method Dissanayake said that since the area to be surveyed was very large the DWLC needed a huge manpower which was not available within the department itself. Therefore a request by the DWLC for assistance for the survey received quick responses from the Universities of Peradeniya, Kelaniya, Jaffna (Vavuniya Campus), Rajarata and several NGOs including the Young Zoologists Association (YZA), Sri Lanka Wildlife Conservation Society, volunteers and poor villagers who frequently suffer from elephant attacks. Accordingly 206 wildlife officers, 86 volunteers (University students/NGOs) and 149 villagers took part in the survey (excluding the Mannar District for which a special report has been prepared). All these personnel stayed under camp conditions throughout the entire survey period. A total of 197 observation points were established in nine zones of which Wilpattu had the highest number of points (46). Establishment of vantage observation points was based on preliminary observations carried out by DWLC officers commencing July 2004. Through these observations movements of elephants in their areas were monitored. Based on these observations the finalisation of observation points was decided at a workshop held on 9th August 2004 at the Galgomuwa Rest House. The participants at the survey were also trained on survey techniques before being relocated to their respective zones and observation points. The survey was planned to coincide with the full moon poya day in September to facilitate the observation of elephants. At each observation point, a group comprising 2-3 persons headed by a wildlife officer was entrusted with the task of observing and recording elephants. An officer attached to the DWLC's mobile patrol also observed elephant movements while supervising the performance of staff at observation points. Proposal Dayananda Kariyawasam said that DWLCs protected area management programme for 2005 will ensure community participation in the department's conservation efforts. The department has identified problem areas such as illegal timber felling, collection of plants etc of monetary value, forest fires, poaching, gem mining, threats posed by visitors, chena cultivations and illegal forest cultivations. Whilst considering the fact that villagers living adjacent to National Parks depend on the forest for their livelihood an on-going education programme to stress the importance of sustainable development is being carried out. One hundred and seven villages adjacent to the seven National Parks have been identified. The development programme includes the construction of 10 large tanks within the national parks during the current year to ensure a regular water supply for the animals. Kariyawasam said the department plans to upgrade the elephant population at the Uda Walawe National Park. The current elephant population is around 350 and the Department will increase this number to around 500 and to maintain this figure at all times. Action will be taken to increase food varieties elephants prefer in all the national parks and to rid the parks of invasive plants such as lantana locally known as gandapana, and plant species of kappetia, kuratiya etc. Dissanayake emphasised the importance of special attention to be given for elephants that are found outside protected areas. He said the survey has recorded a higher number of elephants in 2004 and the composition of elephant groups too appeared to be different from that of the last survey in 1993. Higher number of adults and low number of calves are critical factors which would require serious consideration for management purposes. If such a trend continues, it would mean reduced recruitment of young and the eventual reduction in population sizes through the death of older animals. This situation could be arrested and conservation of elephants strengthened through the implementation of the action plan the DWLC has prepared for the NW wildlife region, Dissanayake said.
|
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
The survey has indicated that Wilpattu National Park though being the
largest (131,693 ha) and the oldest has the least elephant population of
only 51 while most of the elephants recorded were outside the protected
areas.
