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| Monday, 23 August 2004 |
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by Florence Wickramage The Department of Wildlife Conservation will conduct a two day Elephant Survey programme next month to gather information about the elephant population in the country, DWLC Director General Dayananda Kariyawasam told the Daily News yesterday. The DWLC will seek assistance for the survey from Prof. Richard Barnes, a specialist who has developed several new methodologies for elephant head counts and also has wide experience in this field. Prof. Barnes is attached to the Kenya-African Wildlife Service and has conducted successful elephant surveys in several African countries. The department has planned to establish 150 elephant-observation stations in the areas to be covered by the survey as compared to the 40 stations in the elephant survey conducted in 1993. These stations will be manned by 3 persons per unit comprising one department official, one university person and one villager. The Department will engage the services of the Universities of Rajarata, Peradeniya and Vavuniya for the survey. Elephant movements will be monitored from 6 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. on both days including one moonlit night on Poya day. The head count will be done in Kurunegala, Puttalam, Anuradhapura and Wanni Districts and will also cover the Northern side of Wilpattu National Park hitherto unacessible due to the conflict. The human-elephant conflict is severe in the above three districts. Kariyawasam said the survey will gather data on the number of wild elephants who inhabit these regions, how they are spread in the wilds, their lifestyles, sexes, the number of tuskers and the general health conditions of the elephants. The survey will also focus on the threats posed to the elephants and measures to avoid man-elephant confrontations. |
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