Releasing cattle to Udawalawa National Park-HARTI to provide lasting solution
 

by Uditha Kumarasinghe

Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute (HARTI) will provide a lasting solution to safeguard the cattle resource in the vicinity of Udawalawa National Park and also protect its wild animals.

The HARTI has also stepped into overcome the problems affecting the dairy farming industry in Ruhuna due to the intrusion of domestic cattle to the Udawalawa National Park.

The decisions and recommendations arrived at by the HARTI on this matter of national importance will be submitted to the relevant authorities and will be implemented later, HARTI Media Coordinating Officer S.A.C.U.Senanayake told the Daily News on Tuesday.

" The Udawalawa National Park established by the Gazette No.14 of June 30, 1972 under the Flora and Fauna Ordinance covers an area of 30821 hectares.

The national park serving as a border to Moneragala comes under the Uva Province and the Ratnapura district belongs to the Sabaragamuwa Province. There are 23 Grama Niladari divisions in the vicinity of the park where 11850 families are living in 106 villages that come under the purview of these Grama Niladari Divisions."

Releasing cattle to the Udawalawa National Park by the villagers in the area is one of the main problems faced by the Park. A cattle consumes 20 Kgs of grass and plant materials per day. Nearly 20,000 domestic cattle released to the park require 400,000 Kgs. of grass and other plant materials per day. An elephant needs 150Kgs of grass and plant materials per day. Therefore 500 elephants in Udawalawa national park require 75,000 Kgs of grass and plant materials daily, he said.

According to these figures, only domestic cattle and elephants require 475,000Kgs of plant materials per day. In addition, various kinds of herbivorous animals such as deer, wild buffaloes and elk also live in the park.

However, only one region of the park has foliage which can be consumed by animals. Therefore this can be put down as one of the key reasons for elephants coming to villages, he said.

It is reported that the elephants and other animals living in Udawalawa National Park are facing a shortage of food at present. Information have also been revealed that there is a shortage of grass in the park. During the drought season the problem of the shortage of water in the park worsens due to domestic cattle wallowing in small ponds and water holes in the Park.

Having studied this situation, the HARTI together with the Wildlife Conservation Department, Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council, Forest Conservation Department, Environmental Ministry, Mahaweli Authority, Agriculture Ministry and Land Commissioner's Department are making joint efforts to overcome this situation. The HARTI has already identified grasslands outside the Udawalawa National Park, he said.