{"id":83700,"date":"2022-01-09T02:51:37","date_gmt":"2022-01-09T02:51:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/?p=83700"},"modified":"2022-01-09T02:53:22","modified_gmt":"2022-01-09T02:53:22","slug":"resolving-human-elephant-conflict-its-high-time-to-treat-the-root-cause-by-bernard-fernando","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/resolving-human-elephant-conflict-its-high-time-to-treat-the-root-cause-by-bernard-fernando\/","title":{"rendered":"Resolving human-elephant conflict: It\u2019s High Time to Treat the Root Cause – By Bernard Fernando"},"content":{"rendered":"

Resolving human-elephant conflict: It\u2019s High Time to Treat the Root Cause<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0<\/b>By Bernard Fernando<\/b><\/span><\/h1>\n

\"Resolving<\/p>\n

Photo Source:<\/span>tripadvisor.com,<\/a>kidadl.com<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Arising from requests by the President and the COPA, urging a quick and durable solution with policy changes to protect humans and elephants, the writer initially suggested to treat the crystal-clear root cause for human-elephant conflict by determining the optimum manageable number of wild elephants in our small Sri Lanka through research and exporting the excess, thereby opening an avenue to earn the much-needed foreign exchange too.<\/u><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

I have since been informed that export of elephants has been restricted by the State as well as the rest of the world. If it is so, are we to perpetuate the hackneyed, harmful and impermanent strategies like elephant chasing crackers, electrical fences, trenches and bee boxes, etc. which have become obsolete and wasteful investments in the face of these wild elephants that have become wily and aggressive due to the natural instinct to douse their pangs of hunger?<\/u><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

As stated in my previous submission, an ongoing research by the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) and Agricultural Biotechnology Centre (AgBC) of the University of Peradeniya has revealed that, carrying a wild elephant population between 5,000 and 6,000 is relatively high for a small country of 65,610 square kilometres inhabited by a human population of nearly 22 million.<\/u><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

Does our public know that an elephant consumes about 150 kilogrammes of vegetation per day? With an estimated 5,600 wild elephants as at present, their food requirement works out to an astounding 840,000 kilogrammes per day! How can a small developing country like Sri Lanka cope up with such daily consumption levels when the human food, cultivable land and habitat requirements are also increasing exponentially?<\/u><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

\"elephents<\/p>\n

The ground realty demands a permanent solution<\/strong><\/u><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

It is high time that the authorities realise the widening imbalance between the increasing population of humans and wild elephants as strikingly evident from their ever-increasing death rates despite expensive and invasive countermeasures. The seemingly revengeful attacks and damage being done to, property, harvest and laboriously cultivated plots of those helpless, poor farming population, are utterly disgusting and heart-wrenching! In such circumstances, those farmers treating the arrogant elephants as their enemies at times seem justifiable!<\/u><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

Therefore, I repeat that in the face of Sri Lanka being a small, developing country with depleting resources, and recognising the crucial importance of elephant conservation (EC), religious and tourism needs, the only and best way is to strike that \u2018delicate balance\u2019 between the two populations. We fervently hope that the said research findings will effectively deal with the issue and throw enough light to convince those vociferous, but sincere elephant conservationists and environmentalists to appreciate this bitter ground reality.<\/u><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

In the meanwhile, let us implement the alternatives towards striking that \u2018delicate balance.\u2019 They are begin neuter\/birth control programmes as already suggested in my previous articles, expand efforts to export excess numbers of elephants, to the \u2018zoos\u2019 of different countries using our Ambassadorial network and \/or government to government discussions. If such exports are done in couples, the elephant conservationists in those countries will ensure that the Sri Lankan elephant does not become an endangered species, effect necessary policy changes as indicated by COPA, firstly at our end to remove existing export restrictions and convince the rest of the world on the need to preserve a scrupulous balance in the universal elephant population.<\/u><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n