Treasury steps in to save jumbo lives
Chamikara Weerasinghe
The Treasury has allocated Rs 200 million to the Wildlife
Conservation Department to prevent the increasing number of elephant
deaths due to train accidents.
The Treasury had released the money on the directives of President
Mahinda Rajapaksa.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa had reportedly directed Treasury
Secretary P B Jayasundara to lend his fullest co-operation to the
project.
The number of elephants killed on account of being hit by trains last
year is the highest number recorded so far, according to Wildlife
Conservation Department's Elephant Conservation Unit Deputy Director W S
K Pathirana.
"Fifteen jumbos, including a number of female elephants and calfs
were found dead on rail tracks bordering national parks last year," he
said.
"Overgrown shrubbery that have spread up to railway tracks have been
the main cause for these accidents," he explained.
"The animals face fatal collisions as they get trapped between the
shrubbery and steep embankment on either sides of the track," he
explained.
"They go in search of food - leaves, twigs, flowers, grass and water
at night. Most elephant-train accidents take place during late hours
between 6 pm to 5 am," he added.
He said the Wildlife Department has commenced clearing the railway
tracks in Kanthale where elephant deaths are frequent.
The department has started the activity with Sri Lanka Railways.
A 10-mile stretch of track is to be cleared to provide safe passage
for the elephant under the project, he said.
Meanwhile, elephant conservators thanked the President stating that
this is the first time that any government has allocated so much funds
to resolve the human-elephant conflict.
Steps will be taken under the project to fill more stones between the
sleepers of the tracks to prevent the elephants from getting stuck
between them, they said.
Elephant Conservation Deputy Director Pathirana said they had
discussions with Transport Minister Kumar Welgama about using 'night
vision' cameras to monitor the movements of elephant herds as the trains
wend their way through accident prone areas of the forest.
Minister Welgama has agreed to install infra-red night vision to
facilitate the process of monitoring elephant movement at night as a
pilot project, he said. |