• Environmentalist Supun Lahiru Prakash on the human-cause issues along the Buttala-Kataragama Road

After several videos of elephants rampaging through villages went viral on social media, the prevailing issue of feeding wild animals has come to the forefront of discussions. From the information provided in these videos, wildlife experts have declared that most of these incidents happen along the Buttala – Kataragama Road running across the Yala Protected Area Complex.

According to reports, there are four bull elephants on this road that depend on the food provided by travellers on this road. Additionally, about 10 other elephants wander onto the road, in search of food from time to time.

In conversation with Biodiversity Conservation Research Circle Researcher and Convenor Supun Lahiru Prakash, The Daily Morning Brunch learned that as a protective measure during the final stages of the war in Sri Lanka, both sides of this road were cleared by removing the forest cover. “After that, a nice grassland has come up and animals use this grassland for feeding. When passengers began using this road, they left their food waste on roadsides and threw food to the animals,” he explained, pointing out that the root cause of these incidents was actually feeding wild elephants in their natural habitats and poor waste management.

He also shared a few suggestions on how this issue can be addressed by the implementation of provisions of the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance. “Feeding wild animals is an illegal act, but it is done by people due to lack of awareness of the adverse effects of feeding wild animals,” he pointed out, adding that therefore, it is important to create awareness and then take legal action. “Public transport vehicles and daily users of this road know how to deal with these animals, but strangers don’t know it and are subjected to harassment from these elephants,” he went on to share.

The problem of feeding the elephants is worsened considerably by the shop owners in the area. “They instil fear in the villagers, who say that they will be unable to walk on that passageway if they don't feed the elephants; so obviously the townsfolk feed them to ensure free movement on the road,” he shared. From what we gathered, this seemed to be a sort of mafia the shopkeepers engage in: Promoting the villagers to buy fruits and vegetables from their shops for the animals. Prakash added that if travellers do not buy fruits for the animals from them, these traders have another stock of low-quality fruits, which they provide free of charge to travellers to feed elephants. “This is how they sustain their business.”

Instead of addressing this root cause, Prakash stated that the Department of Wildlife Conservation allocates tractors and a lot of officers from their limited staff to drive these elephants away from the road. “This is very unfair, as these protected areas were gazetted for the protection and conservation of wildlife, including elephants, and allow them to roam around freely. However, now they are being punished for the offences of some humans.”

Further, a female herd has also become dependent on food given by travellers, which is a relatively new development, as all the other elephants that display this behaviour are bulls. So this has become a significant issue and wildlife conservationists have to pay much attention to this.

Many studies regarding feeding wildlife have found that this practice can lead to a number of serious problems. Human food is not suitable for wild animals, and they do not need food from humans to survive, as the number of animals in a given ecosystem is determined by the ecosystem itself, and is a natural phenomenon. Wild animals have specialised diets, and they can become malnourished or die if fed the wrong foods. Also, as Prakash pointed out, animals cannot distinguish food from wrappers or foil and can get sick eating these items.

Feeding will also lead to public health concerns, as too many animals in one place increases the chance of disease transmission to people and other wildlife. Another issue that may arise is that animals – accustomed to humans – often lose their fear of humans and can become aggressive. Those that become too aggressive may have to be killed to protect people and property. Animals fed along roads tend to stay near roads, which also increases the chance of wildlife-vehicle accidents.

As a solution, Prakash stated that access to this road could be limited, as other alternative routes are available to travellers. However, he added that public transportation could be regularly allowed once a ticketing system is created for other vehicles. This way, the number of vehicles on the road will be reduced and the Government can earn some revenue as well.