She elephant translocated for first time in the country

By Ifham Nizam 

Elephant experts yesterday expressed concern about the translocation by the Department of Wildlife Conservation of a she elephant for the first time in Sri Lanka.

Supun Lahiru Prakash, an authority on elephants, said the Department should have taken action to release the elephant back into her herd instead of relocating her.

Prakash, who is also the Convener Biodiversity Conservation and Research Circle, told The Island, “We are surprised and disappointed to hear the news that the Department of Wildlife Conservation captured and translocated a female wild elephant found in a pit in Walaswewa area of Galgamuwa Divisional Secretariat in the Kurunegala District to Wilpattu National Park.

“It is surprising that the Department of Wildlife Conservation, which is responsible for wildlife conservation, has acted without considering social behaviour patterns of elephants. And it is my understanding that this is the first time a female has been translocated in this way.”

Praksash also said that there was no evidence in Sri Lanka that female animals contributed to human-elephant conflicts. Therefore, the human-elephant conflict management strategies are being implemented in Sri Lanka, focusing on male elephants. For example, only the problem-causing male elephants are translocated or sent to open prisons such as Horowpathana, Prakash pointed out.

“However, it has now been scientifically proven  that such translocations or confining the bull elephants into holding grounds are counterproductive in terms of elephant-human conflict management or wild elephant conservation.

He said that despite the existing laws and policies, it was totally unacceptable for the Department of Wildlife Conservation to capture and relocate a female animal to control the people’s opposition and that would cause human-elephant conflicts. Wildlife conservation and wildlife-human conflict management was a scientific endeavour, he added

“Female elephants spend their entire lives with the herd in which they are born,” Prakash said.

Meanwhile, Department officials said that they had been left with no alternative but to translocate the female elephant due to protests from villagers.