A Nightime Visitor To The Village

This video is a CCTV capture from last night in Galkadawala village, when a small group of three elephants broke through the electric fence, and walked along the main road, feeding in village home gardens and finally breaking into a paddy store in one of the village houses.

Our village has seen a marked increase in elephant activity in the last few months. A small herd of fifteen to twenty animals have been regularly spotted crossing the road between the village and Palugaswewa, most recently a few days ago.  The electric fences installed around the village a few years ago have proved to be ineffective,  and are regularly breached. A friend who is an authority on elephant behaviour explained that elephants become habituated to permanent fences and find ways of disabling them. At Far Cry we have had first had experience of this recently.

What triggers these localised movements? My friend explained that small groups from the large gathering at Minneriya and Kaudulla National Parks disperse into the surrounding villages when water levels in the two tanks increase, either due to the release of water for cultivation, or due to heavy rains. With the onset of the monsoon, and the ongoing “Maha” cultivation in progress, we can expect to see more elephant  activity in and around our village.

Understanding the behaviour of these gentle giants, and learning to co-exist with them is the only solution to the so called Human Elephant Conflict. Follow this link to learn more about what is being done – https://ejustice.lk/proposal-to-mitigate-thehuman-elephant-conflictin-sri-lanka/

Elephant fences.

By

Yohann Dias

Elephant fences are a necessary evil in the landscape around Far Cry, and many similar rural areas.  On the one hand, they protect farmers’ crops from marauding elephant herds, yet on the other hand they deny these herds their traditional rights of way, dating from time immemorial. Research has shown that elephants prefer to feast on tender young shoots and plants commonly found in human cultivations, rather than on the dry zone forest leaves and grasses which are difficult to digest. For us lovers of nature, the fencing ruins the beauty of the pristine natural environment as well.

The system installed around Galkadawala village is part of a large network of fences that “protect” an entire cluster of villages. It is powered by solar panels, and requires constant maintenance of the vegetation around it to ensure that the wires are not compromised through contact with the vegetation. Farmers organizations have undertaken this task.

At the time of writing it is reported that the fences have ceased to be operational after several solar panels were stolen. It is difficult to understand a mindset that would put lives and livelihoods at risk by such an act. However, herd incursions are now frequently reported, and farmers are resorting to the age old practice of guarding their crops through the night from the vantage point of tree houses.

In the midst of the current crisis, it is uncertain how quickly the authorities will react.