By Maheesha Mudugamuwa
Sustainable Development and Wildlife Ministry has taken a decision to recruit thousands of new range officers and give them weapons training in a bid to fight the ‘war on the wildlife’.
Around 3,000 Civil Defense Force (CDF) Personnel would be recruited for around-the-clock surveillance and they would be armed with SAR40, an automatic Chinese weapon to tackle increasingly desperate violent confrontations between the hunters and those who protect wildlife, the Ministry confirmed.
In addition the Ministry would also recruit another 2,500 new maintenance officers. However, a date has not yet been finalized to start the recruitment process.
Wildlife Conservation Department (DWC) Director General M.G.C. Sooriyabandara told The Sunday Morning that the decision was taken by the Ministry to arm the wildlife officials with SAR40 weapons after considering the increasing number of illegal poachers into the national parks around the country for sand mining, hunting and gem mining.
The number of officials in the department and regional offices are not enough to tackle the issue and they are not properly armed and trained, the Director General said.
Military Training
Commenting on the shortage of wildlife officials and lack of proper equipment and weapons for them, Sustainable Development and Wildlife Deputy Minister Palitha Thevarapperuma said that the new batch of wildlife officers should be given a military training and they should be given new uniforms, binoculars, modern weapons, vehicles and other equipment.
In Polonnaruwa Regional Office, there are only eight wildlife officers and out of them only six had been given weapon training. The weapons they use are not into the expected standard as they had not been re-new for a long time, he said.
The eight officers had to protect around 60,000 acres in Somawathiya National Park and Jala Gelum Nimnaya in Polonnaruwa. “But they have only one vehicle and limited fuel is being given to them,” he stressed.
“At present, range officers don’t have a proper uniform. And only few of them have undergone the weapon training,” he said.
The ‘war for wildlife’ has become a serious issue and it is even bigger than the civil war had with LTTE, the Deputy Minister said adding that the Ministry had not yet finalized the number of weapons that should be brought into the country to give to wildlife officers.
The weapons would not only be used to tackle the Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC) but to protect all other animals and the resources from the poachers. “It even includes the trees and minerals in National Parks,” he said.
In addition to armed range officers, the Deputy Minister said there should be a separate Intelligence Unit and Reconnaissance Patrol for the Wildlife Department to gather information on poachers.
“This process cannot be completed within 24-hours. It will take at least ten years to implement these policies and to completely eradicate the illegal activities from the National Parks,” Thevarapperuma said.
When it comes to wildlife, it includes all wild animals. It’s not only the elephants. At present everyone talk about elephants. Human-Elephant Conflict is a big issue but what about the animals. The deer is the most innocent but most targeted wild animal in the forest. Likewise, the rangers should protect everyone including the human beings as well,” he explained.
“When it comes to the elephants, our approach should be to ensure that they have enough food and water in forest reserves so that they wouldn’t come to adjoin villages in search of food and water,” the Deputy Minister added.
Elaborating the need of fully armed range officers to protect national parks, the Deputy Minister said some people used to dump garbage near the borders of the national parks. Number of wild animals had so far died by eating such garbage. That is why the armed rangers needed. When they are fully armed people would not come into National Parks for illegal activities.
He further added that the rangers would be fully trained and they would have to follow strict procedures. They would not be allowed to use their fire arms to kill the animals, he stressed.
SAR40 or AK47
Meanwhile, the Wildlife and Nature Protection Society (WNPS) say the Cabinet of Ministers has approved Cabinet Paper No. 18/1604/844/002, based on a Memorandum dated July 18, 2018 submitted by the Minister of Sustainable Development, Wildlife and Regional Development on a “Proposed new plan for resolving the Elephant – Human Conflict.” The paper also included the construction of an additional 2,651 Km of electric fencing (Proposal 1) to make the total length of fences in Sri Lanka a staggering 7,000 Km, is the purchase of 2,567 AK47s (Annexure 3).
However, the WCD Director General said that there was no such proposal to buy AK 47s but to buy SAR40. “This is not a new move as the Sustainable Development and Wildlife Minister General Sarath Fonseka had previously said that the wildlife officials should be given new SAR40 weapons. The number of weapons that should be brought has not yet been finalized,” he added.
Deputy Minister Thevarapperuma also confirmed that there was no such decision taken by the Ministry to buy AK47 riffles.
Death Toll
According to the Government statistics, the death toll from Sri Lanka's human-elephant conflict has hit a record high with over 375 people killed by wild elephants and over 1,100 elephants killed by humans within the last five years. In addition, 5,800 instances of property damages also being reported.
According to WCD statistics, 279 elephant deaths had been reported in the country in 2016, while 88 people including 11 females and four children died due to elephant attacks. Compared to 2015, the number of elephant deaths had increased by 74 and the number of human deaths had increased by 25.
Gunfire had been the cause of death of 52 elephants. A total of 47 elephants died due to ‘hakka patas’, 26 due to electrocution, six due to poisoning, 12 due to train accidents and 17 due to other accidents. The cause of death of 54 elephants is unknown while 35 elephants died due to natural causes.
The highest number of elephant attacks on humans was reported in Polonnaruwa, Eastern and Anuradhapura wildlife regions. Seventy eight people were injured due to elephant attacks last year compared to 52 in 2015. In 2016, a total of 1,320 incidents of property damages had been reported due to elephant encroachment.
Weapons still not an option
Warning that the decision taken by the Ministry to arm the range officers with automatic new weapons could lead to the death of more wild animals, WNPS Vice President Ranil Pieris told The Sunday Morning that the Ministry’s plan was to deploy 5,000 CDF personnel along the electric fences that they were going to erect around the National Parks to stop moving elephants to the villages.
One CDF personnel to be deployed for a kilometer long electric fence with a weapon, he said adding that even though the electric fences were the best available option to tackle human-elephant conflict by limiting the elephants in one isolated place, but if the elephants were not in the right place with enough food and water and space for the to roam around, it would definitely killed the elephants.
According to the available figures, we can see that majority of deaths occurred by elephant attacks due to the negligence of the people. When you are live near a jungle it’s not advisable to roam around to night. And also the farmers should not keep their crops inside their houses which would definitely attract the elephants, Pieris said.
He stressed that the human-elephant conflict should be addressed through a scientific approach not by a military approach. The Government should implement a programme to promote human-elephant co-existence not blocking the elephants to on place.
The WNPS Vice President also stressed that as there were incidents where the wildlife officials also involved in illegal activities in National Park such as hunting etc, arming them with modern weapons would be a disaster.