Human - Wildlife conflicts in Sri Lanka

Jayantha Jayewardene

The perception of human - wildlife conflicts is when wildlife act in a way that is detrimental to humans. Somehow when humans do something like shooting at or killing any form of wildlife, it is not considered a conflict.

Poaching animals for their meat or certain parts of their body like skin, tusks, feathers etc it is not seen by humans as a conflict. However should a leopard (Panthera pardus) kill a calf or a goat for its food, this act is seen as a conflict that humans have with leopards.

Humans go into the forest and, apart from killing birds and mammals, take forest produce like yams, fruits, bee’s honey etc. However if deer, hare, tortoises etc. come into human cultivations this is considered a part of the human-wildlife conflicts.

It is also seen that human-wildlife conflicts are those that humans have with the larger animals. In Sri Lanka conflicts are when deer (Axis axis), sambur (Cervus uniclor) and wild boar (Sus scorfa) come and destroy crops. The elephant also destroys crops but on a much larger scale.

The Hare (Lepus nigricollis) and the Star Tortoise (Geochelone elegans) also eat the crops that farmers cultivate. However these are not seen as conflicts. In Sri Lanka hare are trapped or shot for human consumption. The Star Tortoise, which eats the small plants that the farmers have put out, is also killed but the flesh is not eaten. Sometimes they are put into pits and burnt.

Chickens

The Polecat (Paradoxurus hemaproditus) and the Mongoose (Herpestes Sp) raid cages where poultry are kept. They kill more chickens than they consume. Now with stronger mesh being used for the cages the damage that they do is greatly reduced.

Rats are a pest in most households. However the damage that they do is not considered a human-wildlife conflict.

There are, on an average, 65 humans killed each year due to the ongoing human-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka. 125 elephants are also killed by humans each year. A lot of publicity is given to the human-elephant conflicts in Sri Lanka and in other parts of the world where there are wild elephants.

Though the number of humans killed by elephants each year is 65, the number of humans killed each year by snakebite is around 2000. However, the number of snakebite deaths gets nowhere near the publicity that the numbers of humans killed by elephants get.

This is again because the elephant is a large animal and is in conflict with humans whereas the snake is a small reptile and its biting humans are not considered a part of the human - wildlife conflict.

What the smaller animals do is considered a part of their natural process of survival, whereas the actions of the animals that are larger than the wild boar constitute a conflict.

It seems those wild boar that can destroy large extents of crops are considered a part of the human-wildlife conflict. Porcupine (Manis crassicaudata) can also damage crops in the course of their search for food. On the other hand some farmers consider the damage to crops by wild boar and porcupines as a natural thing that farmers have to contend with.

Crocodiles

In some rivers, especially the Nilwala Ganga in Matara, inhabited by the Saltwater Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus), it catches humans who come to the river to bathe and drags them down. Some of these man-eating crocodiles have been caught and relocated in National Parks to ensure the safety of humans using the rivers where this species is found.

Ironically one of these translocated crocodiles dragged down, to his death, the driver of a camping party at the Bundala National Park. However the other species of crocodile found in Sri Lanka, the Marsh Crocodile (Crocodylus palustris) are not a man-eater.

Monkeys

The Macaque or Red monkey (Macaca sinica) seems to have increased in numbers and more and more troops are now coming into urban areas in search of food. This monkey is however a very bold and aggressive. It tries to bite people who try to drive it away from their homes.

It removes the tiles on the roofs. This species also carries rabies. In certain areas in the country the problem of troops of these monkeys raiding home gardens and even unattended houses, is assuming serious proportions. They strip not only the smaller plants but also the tender leaves of the big trees as well, causing their slow death. Since nothing seems to be done about this the problem will increase quickly.

A few years ago Dr. Ashoka Dangolla of the Veterinary Faculty of the Peradeniya University carried out research project on macaque monkeys. They captured many problematic and troublesome monkeys from within the municipal limits of Kandy. The monkeys were brought to the faculty, sedated and surgically sterilised to make sure that they could not reproduce. A special cage was made and all these monkeys were put in there so that they could get acquainted.

After five months an artificial troop was formed. This troop was then released to a jungle with the permission of the Department of Wildlife Conservation. The troop is being monitored since. Only individual monkeys were trapped. School children were encouraged to participate so that they could use the knowledge on our wildlife imparted to them, in order to solve real life biological problems such as this animal - human conflict situation.

Recently a group of angry monkeys raided Pusgollewa village in Kebitigollewa and created havoc there apparently in retaliation to the killing of two monkeys by illicit liquor traders who provided the monkey flesh to their customers. The monkeys who had noticed the hides of the two monkeys spread on a rock to dry, stormed the illegal liquor den, helped themselves to the liquor and overturned the barrels.

Later in their drunken state they had raided houses in the village and destroyed pots and cooking utensils after eating any food that was available. Some of the monkeys, in their drunken stupor are said to have fallen from trees they had climbed. Later the monkeys had been chased away by the villagers by lighting fire crackers.

Trap Guns

Villagers living close to jungles and jungle patches hunt animals for food. Some also sell the meat of the various animals they shoot. They use two methods to shoot animals. One is with the use of conventional guns. The other is the unconventional and illegal method of using trap guns.

These home made ‘guns’ are set along a jungle path used by the animals. They are set on the ground or tied on a convenient bush and are aimed at a height that would do maximum damage to the animal they target.

The trigger is tied and through a devious routing, the line is set to cross the path used by the animals that are targeted. The animal walking along the path does not see the wire or strong string, which is cleverly hidden, and knocking against it trips and sets off the gun which kills or at least injures it.

The animals that are generally targeted are spotted deer, barking deer and wild boar. Old nails and pieces of iron are stuffed into these muzzle loaded guns. They cause intense pain to the animals before they succumb. Humans who also use these paths are in danger of falling to these trap guns, which are at about knee height to them. There are many humans who have succumbed to these trap guns and a host of them have lost their legs through injury. Human victims of these guns get Tetanus and Gangrene frequently.

A survey conducted by Sarath Wickremasinghe of the Department of Wildlife Conservation showed that in the Anuradhapura district alone there were 16,000 trap guns among the villagers. Imagine how many animals are destroyed each month in this district alone. The South Asian Small Arms Network was able to get the villagers in 17 villages in the Horowpatana area to surrender 60 of their trap guns. In recent times irate farmers set trap guns for elephants as well. They are set at a higher point to do maximum damage to the elephant. This is because elephants destroy their crops. This has increased the danger to humans.

Birds

Birds too are involved in the conflicts that humans have with wildlife. The nuisance that the common crow makes of itself is well known. In the areas where paddy is cultivated large flights of parrots swoop on the seed paddy as soon as it is sown and eat the grain. This reduces the potential of a good harvest. Then at the end of the growth period these birds are there again to feed on the ripening grain. Once the paddy is stored large numbers of rats come to eat the paddy stored in sacks. Fortunately snakes come and prey on the rats thereby reducing the damage they do to the stored grain. The downside is that many humans are killed by the bites of these snakes.

Reproduction and populations

Animal populations do not build up their numbers above the carrying capacity of their habitat. They have an instinctive form of self regulation. Scientists have found that most species of animals regulate reproduction to maintain population levels. If food is available freely they have more young. On the other hand if food becomes scarce they bring forth fewer young. Other factors that affect reproduction are water, shelter, security, and reduction of habitat. Some of these restrictions can be seasonal. When the situation improves the restrictions on reproduction are freed. The interdependence of predator and prey species is also an important factor in reproduction.

Human - Elephant Conflicts

In Sri Lanka when you talk of human - wildlife conflicts it is really the human-elephant conflict that takes precedence and is the focal point always.

Elephants have been very much a part of Sri Lanka’s culture, history, religion, mythology, pageantry and even politics, starting from the time of our ancient kings. They were captured, tamed and used for many purposes. They were used for state and royal occasions and temple ceremonies including peraheras; to clear jungles; in wars with enemy invaders; for ploughing in agriculture; in the construction of the large reservoirs and magnificent edifices most of which are in ruins today; in trade with other countries and as gifts to kings and potentates of other countries with which they had friendly relations.

Due to an ever increasing human population in Sri Lanka, jungles, which are elephant habitats, are cleared and development for human activities like settlements and agriculture. With the clearing of the jungles the land available to the elephants is greatly reduced. Sometimes, due to unplanned jungle clearing, elephants are pocketed in small patches of jungle, which are not enough for them to get their needs of food and water, especially during the dry weather periods. When the elephants find that there is a shortage of food and water in the jungles that they live in, they go out in search of food. They then come across the cultivations on the lands, which was once their habitat. They consume this food and damage the rest of the crops.

Intolerance

The farmers try to protect their crops but find it difficult to do so against very determined elephants who are hungry. As a result conflicts develop between these farmers and the elephants. The farmers shoot at the elephants and the wounded elephants become very aggressive due to the great pain from their wounds. They then attack humans and injure them and sometimes kill them. Sometimes the guns of the farmers kill the elephants. The Department of Wildlife Conservation records show that, on an average for the last 12 years, 120 elephants and 65 humans are killed each year as a result of the human-elephant conflicts. These conflicts have developed all over the island where there are human settlements and villages close to elephant habitats.

Today, the ratio of humans to elephants in Sri Lanka is 5,430:1. The relationship between man and elephant has deteriorated from acceptance to intolerance in many areas, despite the tolerant influence of Buddhism. Furthermore, given their large appetite and sheer size, elephants cannot co-exist with people in areas where agriculture is the dominant form of land use, unless the farmers can be compensated for the damage caused by the elephants.

The farmers work very hard in their fields during the day to grow their crops. However in a single night marauding elephants can easily wipe the crop of one year. Given that on average an adult bull elephant eats 150 kg of food daily, the economic loss that results from elephant depredations to the farmers can be very high.

Judging from the number of elephants that are being killed in the wild annually, there has been a progressive increase in rural and village people’s intolerance towards wild elephants. Elephants in Sri Lanka are being killed simply because they come into conflict with man as they interfere with agriculture.

Elephant populations in the wild have been reduced substantially in the past 50 years, during which between 1500 - 3000 elephants may have been killed in the wild. In the year 2001 alone, more than a 120 elephants, mostly bulls, were killed.

Elephants are not killed in Sri Lanka for their tusks, as ivory poaching is a minor problem because tuskers in Sri Lanka are rare. Less than 7 per cent of the bulls carry tusks. Elephants are not being for meat, since no one in Sri Lanka eats elephant meat nor are they killed for their skin, since there is no market for it in the island’s leather industry.

If elephants and humans are to co-exist in an area, the levels of conflict between the two must be reduced by decreasing the burden and increasing the benefit that come to the farmers from the presence of elephants near their villages. Unless we adopt creative measures to reduce the level of conflict and accommodate elephants and humans, the escalation in the conflict will lead in only one direction: the destruction and eventual elimination of elephants outside protected areas.

Several studies have been carried out on the human-elephant conflict both in Asia and Africa, but despite the lessons learnt, general solutions to the problem still remain rather elusive. Measures such as translocation of problem elephants, elephant drives (driving elephants en masse from conflict areas), establishment of physical barriers such as trenches, and psychological barriers such as electric fences, aerosol chillie sprays etc., have yielded limited success but the problem remains nevertheless.

Thorn-scrub

It takes about 5 square km of land to support an elephant without upsetting the natural balance that exists between the elephant and the thorn-scrub habitat in which most of our wildlife occurs today.

Therefore the present population of about 3,500 elephants would require about 17,500 square km or 27per cent of the total land area for its exclusive use. The system of protected areas (national parks, sanctuaries, strict nature reserves etc) covers only about 12.5per cent of the land area (or 8,200 square km). Thus national parks and nature reserves alone cannot ensure the long-term survival of the elephants.

Given that the loss of their habitat loss contributes significantly to the decline of elephant numbers, it is essential to encourage coexistence between elephants and local communities outside protected areas. If elephants are to survive outside protected areas in significant numbers across a landscape dominated by man, then people need to be persuaded to share the resources of the land with elephants.

Furthermore, the policy of the Department of Wildlife Conservation should also be designed to encourage people to change their attitudes, from intolerance to tolerance. This can happen only if the people are able to derive tangible benefits from the presence of elephants in their neighbourhood.

General

Human-wildlife conflicts have assumed different dimensions in terms of human casualties, livestock killings and agricultural and horticultural crop raiding at the interface of wildlife habitats and the human use dominated landscape. Such a situation affects the diverse sections of village society, differently. Those who live closer to the forest areas and away from the road-head are mostly poor and bear most of the burnt of the human-wildlife conflict.

Almost all those people, who are affected by the conflicts they have with wildlife, are the poor. Due to poverty they have to utilize many of the natural resources around them, mainly for their food and fuel.

However they do not utilise these resources in a manner that the resources would continue to be available, in the same quantities, in the future. The depletion of these resources would greatly affect these very people who use them. On the other hand wildlife has a serious effect on the economies of the rural poor. They are not in apposition to fend off the ill effects of these man-wildlife conflicts and are also ill equipped to take any remedial action. In addition they are not always in a position to raise their voices against the injustice of this situation.

It is essential that conservationists should not only look at conservation and protection, but they must also actively consider arranging for compensation and relief for the loss or damage to the crops of these people. Such activities should become the serious concern not only of conservationists but managers and government officials as well. This is essential if conservation of the wild species is to be effective.