Harm not the harmless | Daily News

Harm not the harmless

APPEAL TO STOP UNSCIENTIFIC RELOCATION OF TWO WILD ELEPHANTS LIVING IN SINHARAJA RAINFOREST WORLD HERITAGE SITE:

We have learnt that Sustainable Development and Wildlife Deputy Minister has instructed the Department of Wildlife to capture and relocate two wild elephants living in Sinharaja to Horowpothana elephant holding ground without any scientific assessment made whether these wet zone elephants can survive in that harsh dry zone conditions.

According to the eminent conservationist and Researchers of the calibre of Dr. Prithiviraj Fernando and Jagath Gunawardana, the decision was not based on any scientific evidence or with the welfare of the elephants in mind. This unscientific, non-consultative decision was made as a reaction to a death of a villager in Pothupitiya, Ratnapura due to an elephant attack.

We appeal to President Maithripala Sirisena to stop this single handed decision considering the following.

* Sinharaja is a UNESCO World heritage site. Elephants help maintain this ecosystem since they act as a keystone species. Removal of such species would have severe negative impacts on this natural ecosystem. Government of Sri Lanka has a global obligation to protect this World Heritage Site from illegal activities including negative impacts of ad-hoc decisions. Therefore, the decision to remove elephants from this world recognized conservation area should be made on strong scientific basis.

* Taking the elephants born and bred in the wettest area of the wet zone in the country to an alien environment of the dry zone in Horowpothana, known for its harsh climatic conditions would not bode well for the elephants.

* The capture and transportation to the far off area can be traumatic to the elephants. According to researchers elephants are known to be highly sensitive and this transportation would be deadly for them.

* The vegetation and feeding plants will be different to what they are accustomed to, causing issues. Further, these elephants might have various ailments such as breathing issues due to the low elevation dry climatic conditions in Horowpothana compare to their current location.

* These elephants may not survive among other dry zone elephants in the Elephant holding site due to the rejection of unknown elephants and the genetic differences due to different gene pool. This aspect has not been researched by the Wildlife Department or other researchers well.

* According to the researchers these two elephants will not remain in an environment alien to it and will escape, and a majority of the time the animal dies from this traumatic experience. There are many incidents that elephants have escaped from this location in Horowpothana and got killed during the escape.

* If these two elephants have been fitted with a GPS collar people would monitor where the elephants are roaming which could prevent elephant attack. This way we can prevent human deaths. No such solutions have tested to date to resolve the issue.

The two elephants act as the guardians of the Sinharaja forest and their presence stops animal poaching, illegal logging and illegal brewing of alcohol. As far as we know these poachers and loggers are behind this decision. We therefore feel taking away the remaining elephants could lead to the eventual destruction of Sinharaja.

We have learned that the Officers of the Wildlife Department are already in Sinharaja to initiate this operation.

Therefore, we humbly appeal to President Sirisena to immediately intervene in this matter and reverse this unwise, unscientific, non-consultative decision.


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