Sri Lanka, Development in the Walsapugala (Hambantota)

Sri Lanka, Walsapugala area in Hambantota, Nov 2020.

Once again, farmers and their local politicians have forced the Department of Wildlife (DWC) to translocate an elephant.

A "certificate of death" was essentially signed by the villagers and politicians. It is proven that 80 percent of translocated elephants will die within the first year, as they attempt to return to their former habitat. They get ensnared with trap guns, electrocution by illegal fences, poisoned by spiked fruits, or their mouths blown off by explosive "haka pattas." All this happens as they are traversing unfamiliar terrain attempting to get home!

However, there isn't really a home to go to! 15,000 acres, which used to host hundreds of elephants was handed over to the Chinese in a "land for debt" swap to pay off loans the former president Rajapaksa encumbered the country to during his presidency. This is a Chinese strategy used to build their "Maritime Silk Road." across all Asia. The elephants and local people are victim of Rajapaksa's naivety and corruption.

The elephant captured last week by the DWC was raiding in an area where new farms have been built. Like the elephants, the villagers and farmers in Hambantota have been relocated to formerly pristine wildlands. Like always, the elephants are the losers and will be caught and removed when they become inconvenient.

The politicians had formerly created an "elephant jail" in Horowpathana. Inconvenient bull elephants would be relocated there instead of released to the forests in the far corners of the island. However, most of the 50 bulls that were relocated to this jail have either escaped, or died of malnutrition or fighting.

The solution: create a specialized elephant response team, like done by in the Anamali Hills of the Western Ghats of India, or the Defenders of Wildlife's Flying Squad in Sumatra, or trained rangers in Karnataka and Myanmar. These rangers are called in whenever elephants are too near human doings, and will safely and patiently push the elephants back into safe habitat.

To do less than this is ignorance....plain foolishness. These are the solutions....they are proven to work. That, and stopping illegal occupation of existing wild habitat, and reestablishing critical elephant corridors is the answer.

To learn more about the developments and impacts in Hambantota, please go here: https://www.elephantsnow.org/development-hambantota