Second electric fence coming up at Udawalawa National Park

Priyan de Silva, Matara sports corespondent

The Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) has begun work on the second electric fence about 50 metres interior and parallel to the existing fence bordering the Udawalawa - Thanamalwila road (B427).

About 11 kms of the fence has been completed and work on the balance six kms is in progress. The cost of the fence is Rs 500,000 per km.

The new fence is mainly intended to ward off elephants and prevent people from feeding them.

Wayside vendors are the number one offenders as they keep the beasts near their stalls by giving the animals tit- bits time to time to do a brisk trade when tourists stop to watch the giant beasts.

Some are generous and purchase bunches of ripe banana and other fruit for the animals. Some folk risk their safety and stroke the elephants too.

Dr Pruthuviraj Fernando	Deepa Keerthirathna

D Keerthirathna, a vendor who has a stall bordering the road, said though she does a lucrative trade during the day, she sleeps in fear at night.

She said she has to light a fire near her stall at night to dissuade the beasts from knocking over the fence and feasting on the goods in her stall.

Centre for Elephant Conservation and Research chairman Dr Pruthuviraj Fernando said only about 50 out of the around 1, 000 elephants that inhabit the Udawalawa National Park, resort to this practice of patrolling the electric fence.

“The elephants have even broken the newly electric fence on four occasions to date,” Dr Fernando said. He is of the view that the DWC should erect and maintain the electric fence around the full 200 km periphery of the National Park.

It is imperative that the fences are checked and maintained daily as the elephants are innovative creatures and figure out novel methods of short circuiting the electric supply by putting the fence down. Some kick the posts down, while some drop trees or limbs on the fence. One elephant even tried to pull a telephone post on to the fence.

This new fence would also be a deterrent to herdsmen who have their corrals bordering the National Park and graze their cattle within the park illegally, thus depriving the animals inhabiting within the parks of fodder.

The herdsmen are aware that grazing their cattle within the National Park is illegal. They are aware that the cattle deprive the elephants and other animals within the park of food and water specially during the dry season.

An elephant with cattle photographed at the same spot before the new fence was erected.