Protecting a memory and nature

An auditorium built by the parents of the late Dr.Ravindra Samarasinha, a conservationist and humanist, in the jungles of Yala that he loved so much, is sadly underutilised

When Derrick and Vivina Samarasinha remember their son Ravi’s funeral, they remember the number of total strangers who came. “We didn’t know who these people were, there were busloads,” says Mrs. Samarasinha. A rough count put them at over a 1000, including humble elderly villagers from Tissamaharama.

Dr. Ravi Samarasinha

Their presence and genuine sorrow that day comforted his grieving family and made it clear to them that Dr. Ravindra Samarasinha would be remembered not only as one of the country’s most genuinely dedicated and clever conservationists but a quiet and generous humanitarian. As the months passed, they realised they wanted to create a solid monument to him, and one park seemed the inevitable choice of location. “We wanted to do something in Yala after Ravi’s death because he more or less lived there, you see,” Mr. Samarasinha says. His mother wanted to put up a building in which people could live and conduct research in the park but they ended up building an auditorium designed by architect Ashley de Vos instead, along with new ticket counters – the first stop for visitors coming into the park.

The auditorium built in Ravi’s memory at Yala

On the table in front of us is a file Mr. Samarasinha filled with all the articles that were published to honour Ravi’s memory. Killed in a collision with a sand-filled lorry on a road close to his parents’ estate in 2007, Ravi was only 44 when he died. A quiet and thoughtful child, he grew up loving the outdoors, never happier than with his dogs or out exploring a new landscape. Eventually, he would study medicine and go to Kuliyapitiya for his internship before asking for a posting to Hambantota, just so he could be near the jungles he so loved.

It was during that time that he became involved in the BBC’s documentary ‘The Leopard Hunters’. The authorities only agreed to allow the team into the park after dark when Ravi assured them he would accompany the crew. “He was working in the hospital then and he couldn’t get leave,” says Mrs. Samarasinha. Ravi’s solution was to pull back-to-back shifts and then rush straight off for a night’s filming. So perhaps it didn’t come as such a surprise to his parents when he told them he wanted to dedicate all his time to his work in the wild.
“We weren’t so happy about him taking a break from medicine because I always felt he was a very good diagnostician,” confesses Mrs. Samarasinha, who only allowed herself to be convinced when her son said to her, “Let me take a break. Even if I have ten years of happiness in doing what I really like, then my life is well spent.”

Ravi was happiest in Yala. He would camp out for days, with only a tracker, a driver and his camera for company. “Sometimes it’s just the love of being there, it doesn’t matter if you don’t see anything, if all you hear is calls in the night. He was that kind of man, a genuine lover of nature and wildlife,” says Caryll Perera, a friend of Ravi’s parents and the person they credit with helping them get the work on the auditorium completed.

Having bought the best equipment he could afford from Singapore, Ravi took an estimated 10,000 images of leopards, elephants and deer; of birds in flight and reptiles in the undergrowth, he took pictures of insects and close ups of flowers and fruit. As with his other interests, Ravi applied a meticulous, exhaustive approach to mastering photography and it was through the lens of his camera that he first began to gather evidence for what would be a ground-breaking approach to identifying leopards – the pattern of their spots was unique to each, observed Ravi, and it was that insight that would help the authorities first count and them keep track of individual animals.

Ravi would co-author or author several books and his pictures would appear in numerous publications. (When she finally brought herself to open up his flat after a year, his mother found that he was working on another and had his content meticulously organised.) He also took a very pragmatic, hands on approach to conservation. When villagers complained of having their cattle taken by leopards, he worked with other likeminded people to design traps that could be used to capture the big cats without harming them. He also helped build and distribute solid cages in which villagers could pen their cattle up at night, safe from hungry predators. “Ravi listened to people,” says his mother, explaining that he would often visit villages with his medicine case, treating simple ailments, doling out medicines and directing the more serious cases toward local hospitals. “People knew he was genuine because he had given up a lucrative medical practice to be there.”

Whenever he could, Ravi liked to speak to children in the local schools, firmly convinced that it would take the young to carry the conservation message. It’s why the simple auditorium seems like the perfect tribute. His parents want the auditorium to be used to screen films, host lectures and display information about the leopard and the other inhabitants of the park. Caryll says it would be ideal if this became a compulsory stop for visitors to the park.

“We want to educate the young people that it’s not just a pleasure trip. If they don’t look after this, we’ll lose it,” says Mrs. Samarasinha. Their only great disappointment, says Mr. Samarasinha, is that despite being opened with some hoopla, the auditorium is not being put to its designated use. His entreaties to the authorities have been ignored and they seem uncertain of the way forward. The one thing the Samarasinhas know is that Ravi would have wanted them to continue trying to inspire young people. “It’s important to teach children to love animals, they are the ones that will have wonderful new ideas, ideas for conservation that we haven’t even thought off,” says Mrs. Samarasinha. She knows if Ravi were alive, he would be in the forefront of the fight to save the nation’s parks. “He would be doing, not just talking.”

As we get ready to leave, Mr. Samarasinha urges us to read something Ravi once wrote in a book he was gifting to a young girl. He feels it sums up his son perfectly. “It is a gift to have a beautiful mind that can admire nature,” Ravi wrote, “but it is a greater gift to have a heart that wants to protect it.”

Leopards: The FutureBy Ravi Samarasinha In Sri Lanka, the greatest threat to the leopard comes from the habitat loss and fragmentation, as land requirements grow with the demands of an ever increasing population. Despite legal protection, leopards are still killed for their skin, poisoned when they kill domestic cattle and accidentally ensnared in wire traps meant for deer and other ‘game.’ The large-scale trade in game meat reduces prey densities in reserves and parks, forcing leopards to prey on dogs and cattle outside protected areas, leading to an increased confrontation with man, a conflict in which the leopard is the ultimate loser. Long-term successful conservation of the leopard requires a multi-pronged approach. The national parks, the last future stronghold of the leopard, need to be linked by corridors, ensuring genetic flow, while laws protecting the leopard and its habitat need to be strengthened and revised. The Department of Wildlife Conservation, which has been entrusted with the solemn duty of protecting the wildlife of this country, badly needs more funds and staff, but more importantly, new vision and commitment when fulfilling its duties. The leopard is a keystone species; its well being is an indication that the ecosystem that we live and depend on is thriving. We, therefore, must strive hard to conserve the leopard. If we fail, the forests and jungles of Sri Lanka will surely be the poorer for the loss of this most perfect of big cats, beautiful in appearance and graceful in its movement. (From Wilds of Lanka, by Ravi Samarasinha and Chitral Jayatilake)

Source:http://www.sundaytimes.lk/130317/plus/protecting-a-memory-and-nature-36704.html

Yala – ruined by its own popularity?

Srilal Miththapala offers a pragmatic approach to mitigate some of the problems faced by the country’s most visited national park

The Yala National Park in the south of Sri Lanka has always been one of the most popular national parks in the country, drawing a large number of visitors, both Sri Lankans and foreigners. However, of late, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of visitors, which is causing a great threat to the environment and the animals.

Flora

The Yala National Park has various eco systems, consisting of open grassland, tanks, water holes, coastal lagoons, estuaries, mangroves, moist monsoon forests, dry forests and fresh and brackish wetlands and beaches.

Avifauna

Yala is an important birding area where over 200 bird species are found, of which six are Sri Lanka’s endemic species. There are flocks of migrant birds, particularly, water birds, who visit the wetlands of Yala.

Fauna

There are 44 species of mammals resident in Yala with Sri Lanka’s ‘BIG 4’ –The leopard, buffalo, bear and the elephant, being quite prevalent. Yala is said to have one of the highest densities of leopards and Mugger crocodiles in the world.

Visitor statistics

Fuelled by the post war tourism boom, visitor numbers to Yala have been growing rapidly. In 2011 Yala had close upon 99,000 foreign visitors and 217,000 local visitors. (ref. Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority –SLTDA) . The 2012 figures are not yet available, but the total visitation is said to have exceeded 700,000 in 2012. In fact it was reported recently that last month -on February 13, there was an all-time record at Yala with 1000 foreign and 500 local visitors, bringing in revenue of Rs 2.6 m for the day.

On an overall basis, local visitors outnumber foreigners almost three fold. Also it is significant that the next two most popular parks record only a mere 197,000 visitors (Horton Plains) and 77,000 visitors (Uda Walawa), compared to the 315,000 visitors for Yala for 2011.

However, the picture is totally reversed when the earnings from park entrance tickets are analysed. For 2011, from a total of 99,000 foreigners visiting Yala, revenue of Rs.155m was generated, while 217,000 Sri Lankan visitors generated only Rs.12.5 M revenue. This vast differential is due to the large price difference in the ticket, between foreigners and Sri Lankans.

Hence Yala( and other National Parks) , are important for tourism, and bring in good revenue to the state.

The Leopard and Yala and its recent popularity

Yala gained considerable enhanced exposure and popularity in the last five years, when research emerged that the park was harbouring one of the largest leopard population densities in the world. Fuelled by strong publicity and exposure by popular wildlife programmes on Animal Planet, National Geographic and BBC, very soon Yala became a ‘hotspot’ for leopard sighting.

Over the years, the leopard population in Yala has grown, and today it numbers close to about 50 leopards inhabiting a very small area of the park. This fairly healthy population, a large number of who have grown up accustomed to humans and jeeps, now enables visitors to have a very good chance of a leopard sighting during a game drive in the park. This single aspect has been the main cause of the drastic increase in visitation leading to the current situation.

The issues

Fundamentally, all the problems really stem from over-visitation and demand, where the supply (safari vehicles and guides / trackers) vie for business from visitors for safari rides. It is estimated that there are over 250 jeep drivers operating in the Yala area, most of who have had no experience nor interest in wildlife, but have gone into the business to make a ‘quick buck’. Profit margins are high with a single safari driver earning Rs.4,000 -Rs.5,000 per safari of approximately three hours, together with ‘handsome tips’ for a unique sighting, particularly of leopard.

This overwhelming demand, especially for leopard, pushes the safari drivers to break the park rules in their effort to please the customers. The Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) under whose jurisdiction the park, flora and fauna comes, is often powerless to enforce the park visitation rules and regulations, since there is great interference and patronage for these drivers from powerful external sources.

In addition, due to typical government bureaucracy and other complicated procedures, there is an acute shortage of trackers (game wardens) in the park, which results in more than 50% – 60% of the vehicles going into the park without a tracker in attendance (usually, every vehicle is accompanied by a tracker who is responsible for the vehicle, its occupants and proper adherence to rules).

Hence, all these problems have compounded the issue to a crisis point today.

Tourism

With the rapid growth of tourism in the past three years, and wildlife tourism also gaining popularity in Sri Lanka, the number of tourists to the area has also increased together with new hotel developments. SLTDA statistics reveal that of the 855,975 tourist arrivals in 2011, 198,536 visited the national parks( 23%.). Hence it is clear that while Sri Lanka is not, and never will be, another Kenya, wild life tourism is certainly playing an increasingly important role in Sri Lanka’s tourism offering.

Currently, there are a total of 340 rooms in star class hotels and over 155 rooms in guest houses, in and around the vicinity of Yala, giving rise to a total of 505 rooms. There is also on record from SLTDA, that a further nine hotel establishments have been given approval for construction, which will add another 195 rooms to this current stock of 500.

As it is, with these 500 rooms, at any given time, there could be 75-100 jeeps inside the park, and it will not take any major arithmetic to figure out what a further 195 room occupancy will contribute to the issue.�So there is no running away from the fact that the problems are only going to increase as time goes by, and tourism will be certainly ‘ fuel the fire’.

The solutions

There are multiple solutions to overcome this situation, some of which will require policy intervention from the government, some impractical, and yet some others, which can be implemented without too much difficulty.�So let us approach this is an analytical manner with the following steps

• List out a comprehensive ‘wish list’, somewhat like what is done at a brainstorming session.
• Then identify an implementation authority and responsibility against each of these initiatives
• It will be then clear that almost all of the solutions fall within the purview of the DWC.
• At the same time we all are well aware of the multiple and complex issues that are prevalent with the DWC, limiting their ability to function effectively and efficiently.

Hence the stark reality is that all these grandiose ideas will come up against a gigantic ‘brick wall’, and go nowhere, while we talk, discuss, argue, point fingers and pontificate. In the meantime Yala and its flora and fauna will continue to be decimated,

However there will be several of these activities/ interventions that can be strongly influenced by interested stakeholders, and even be implemented in an indirect manner..
It is evident from this analytical matrix, that some activities , such as limiting the number of visitors into the park at any given time, to prevent overcrowding, will require high level decision making at Government level, which, given the current context, would be a ‘pipe dream’. And no amount of other interested stakeholder activity or pressure, would perhaps help the implementation of such a new regulation.

On the other hand, ensuring drivers obey the rules strictly within the National Park also comes under the purview of the DWC, which they are unable to implement even now, due to various reasons. However in this case, if visitors are made aware that there are such strict rules to be adhered to (through perhaps a leaflet given to all visitors to the park ) at least some proportion of them would then want to abide by these rules. They would then show their displeasure of any bad behaviour by drivers, by not rewarding them well (negative reinforcement) at the end of the safari, as is the normal practice. This will be a very powerful initiative with foreigners in particular, who are accustomed to discipline and law and order. (in fact The Sri Lanka Inbound Tourist Association SLAITO and some committed hotels in the area are already in the process of designing and printing a leaflet of the do’s and don’ts of the park in 3 languages for distribution)

On this basis, there are some activities and initiatives which can be influenced by interested stakeholders:

• Strictly enforce park rules- create awareness among all visitors to bring pressure on drivers to behave properly.
• Punish offenders by suspension- visitors/ tour operators/ hotels/ Destination Management Companies ( DMC) can refuse to hire bad / blacklisted drivers. ( there is enough photographic evidence to identify some of the culprits)
• DWC to set up mobile patrols within the park- hoteliers /DMC’s can fund a patrol vehicle and maintain it, to enable the DWC to operate mobile patrols inside the park ( This initiative is also now underway sponsored by some hotels)
• Surcharge for vehicles with poor load factor (carrying one or two passengers)- Hotels/ DMCs /tour operators can offer single or twin guests the option to double up with others to increase the load factor per vehicle.
• Move away from being leopard centric, and publicize other diversity in Yala (for tourists)- Environmentalists, wild life enthusiasts and tour operators can downplay the leopard and the guaranteeing of a sighting, while promoting the other diverse attractions of the park
• Promote other national parks as an alternativee to Yala ( to tourists)- Tour operators can promote other wild life parks to the general tourist, who is not a hard-core wild life fan

Conclusion

It is quite clear therefore, from the foregoing, that Yala is important not only to environmentalists, but also for tourism and for all Sri Lankans alike, since it is a national asset. Also, it is clear that the problems at Yala will only keep increasing with time. �It is also quite clear that the main agency that should be at the forefront of trying to solve these problems, the DWC, is unable to tackle the issue, due a complexity of reasons.

It is important therefore, that all stakeholders put their ‘shoulders to the wheel’ to help in any way they can, to mitigate the on-going problems, without�being armchair critics, and pointing the finger at others.

We need to act in whatever small way we can, now.

Source:http://www.sundaytimes.lk

Wilpattu certified as a wetland of world importance

The Wilpattu game reserve was recently named Sri Lanka’s sixth Ramsar Wetland, a name give to ecologically significant wetlands around the world. The Ramsar Convention, to which Sri Lanka is a signatory, is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands. Bundala was Sri Lanka’s first Ramsar wetland, followed by Anawilundawa, Madu Ganga, Kumana and the Vankalai Sanctuary.

Dr. Lew Young handing over the Wilpattu Ramsar Certificate to H. D. Ratnayake

On February 2, World Wetland Day, Dr. Lew Young, senior advisor for the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands for Asia and Oceania, handed over the Wilpattu Ramsar Certificate to H. D. Ratnayake, director general of the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC).
During his visit, Dr. Young met officials responsible for protecting the country’s wetlands. He also gave a public lecture on the importance of wetlands and how they play a role in regulating the water we consume. This year’s Wetland Day theme, “Wetlands Take Care of Water”, is aligned with the United Nation’s Year of Water Cooperation.
Dr. Young said he and his colleagues were not aware that a road was being illegally constructed across the Wilpattu national park at the time the Wilpattu reserve was being considered for Ramsar endorsement. “But now that Wilpattu has been declared a wetland of international importance, it is all the more important that we protect Wilpattu,” Dr. Young said.
Wilpattu is on the northwest coast of Sri Lana and is the country’s largest and oldest national park. During the war, terrorists infiltrated the game reserve, killing the park warden. After the war, Wilpattu was again in the news when a controversial road linking Puttalam and Mannar and cutting across the national park was opened to the public. Environmentalists say the road is hazardous to wildlife and violates the Flora and Fauna Ordinance. Environmental Foundation Limited (EFL) has filed a case and the matter is before the Supreme Court.
“The Ramsar Convention promotes the sustainable use of wetlands, but balancing conservation and development is always a challenge,” Dr. Young said. Declaring Wilpattu a Ramsar wetland is only the first step. Wetland management involves setting up committees to monitor the well-being of Ramsar wetlands. These committees may include government agencies, adjacent communities and environment groups who are stakeholders of the sites.

Wilpattu has a total of 205 water bodies, natural and manmade, within its perimeter. Wilpattu is home to a unique habitat known as the “villu,” natural depressions in the land that will fill up with rainwater during the monsoon. The villus are havens of biodiversity. They attract waterfowl and other bird species, as well as wild animals, including elephants. Elephants in this part of Sri Lanka are said to be larger in size than the average Sri Lanka jumbo because they feed on nutrient-rich grasses growing in the villus.
The Wilpattu Ramsar site extends beyond the boundaries of the national park to the ocean front to include the rich coastal and marine habitats of Kalpitiya. Seagrass beds, mangroves, salt marshes, swamps and floodplain forests contribute to the area’s rich biodiversity. The park is home to 21 endemic vertebrate species, including the endangered Sri Lanka leopard (Panthera pardus ssp. Kotiya). The site once supported a thriving agricultural civilization, and 68 archaeologically important sites have been identified.
Other wildlife experts and conservationists present at the Ramsar ceremony were Dr. Channa Bambaradeniya; Manjula Amararathna of the Department of Wildlife Conservation; Udaya Sirivardana of the Ceylon Bird Club; Dr. Pradeep Nalaka Ranasinghe, Dr. Suranjan Fernando of the Centre for Applied Biodiversity Research, and Gamini Samarakoon.

Source:http://www.sundaytimes.lk/130210/news/wilpattu-certified-as-a-wetland-of-world-importance-32500.html

Four more elephant sanctuaries to be set up in Sri Lanka next year

The Sri Lankan government has taken measures to set up four more elephant sanctuaries in the country by next year, Deputy Minister of Wildlife and Agrarian Services S.M. Chandrasena has said.
The four sanctuaries are to be set up in Horowpathana, Lunugavehera, Maduru Oya and Galgamuwa.
The wild life officials will capture and kraal the wild elephants entering into villages and harming the people and their crops in these sanctuaries.

The Minister says this move would help to minimize the human-elephant conflict and protect the elephants.
He has said that 75 percent of the sanctuary in Horowpathana in a land extent of 3,000 acres has been completed and that Rs.225 million has been allocated for the project.
Sri Lanka's wild elephant population has dwindled in the recent years and an elephant census conducted by the Wildlife Department in August 2011 found that 5,879 elephants were roaming Sri Lanka's jungles.

Source:http://www.colombopage.com/archive_12B/Nov23_1353651744JR.php

කොකාවිල් කඳවුරට ආ අසරණ අමුත්තා

යාපනයේ කොකාවිල් හමුදා කඳවුර දෙසට
විශාල කළු ගුලියක්‌ ඉකුත් 30 මහ රෑ එමින් තිබිණි.

හමුදා නිලධාරීහු එන හැම දේකටම මුහුණ දීමට සූදානමින් සිටියහ.

මේ කළු ගුලිය පිළිබඳව විපරමින් පසු වෙද්දී පෙනී ගියේ එම කළු ගුලිය යෝධ වලසකුගේ ඡායාවක්‌ බවය. මෙම යෝධ වලසා පැමිණියේ කොකාවිල් හමුදා කඳවුර ආසන්නයේ පිsහිටි වතුර වළකටය. මෙම වලසා මහත් අසීරුවෙන් ඇවිද්දේය.

කවුරුන් හෝ දඩයක්‌කාරයෙක්‌ ඇටවූ උගුලකට හසු වූ වලසා එම උගුලට සම්බන්ධ විශාල ලී කොටයක්‌ කොන්දේ රඳවාගෙනය.

බැලූ බැල්මට මෙම විශාල කොටය නිසා වලසා ඇවිද්දේ මහත් අසීරුවෙන්ය.

මෙම වලසාගේ කොන්ද බාගෙට කැඩී ඇතැයි හමුදා නිලධාරීහු විශ්වාස කළහ.

වනජීවී අඩවි නිලධාරි හේරත් මහතාට මෙම යෝධ වලසා පිළිබඳව දැනුම් දී ඇත.

පැය කාලක්‌ යැමට මත්තෙන් වනජීවී නිලධාරීන් කණ්‌ඩායමක්‌ කොකාවිල් හමුදා කඳවුර ආසන්නයට පැමිණියේය. විශාල ලී කොටයක්‌ රඳවාගෙන මහත් වේදනාවෙන් සිටි යෝධ වලසා අසුවී ඇති උගුල ගැලවීමට වනජීවී නිලධාරීහු උත්සාහ ගත්හ.

වලසා ළඟට කිට්‌ටුවීමටත් බැරිය. ඌ සිටියේ මරුවිකල්ලෙනි.

වනජීවී නිලධාරීන් මහත් අසීරුවෙන් උගුලේ බැමි ලිහන්න පටන් ගත්තේය.

පැය දෙක තුනක පරිශ්‍රමයකදී වලසා හසුවී සිටි උගුල සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම ගලවා දැමීමට වනජීවී නිලධාරීන්ට හැකිවිය.

තමන්ට වනජීවී නිලධාරීන්ගෙන් කරදරයක්‌ හිරිහැරයක්‌ නොකරන බවට තේරුම්ගත් මෙම යෝධ වලසා බැමි ලියා දැමීමෙන් පසුත් වනජීවී නිලධාරීන් අසල ගැවසුණේ හීලෑකරගත් වලසෙකු ලෙසිනි.

මඳ වේලාවකින් පසු මෙම වලසා කැලෑව තුළට රිංගා ගත්තේය.

අඩවි වන ජීවී නිලධාරි හේරත් මහතා අපට කීවේ උගුලකට හසුවූ සතුන් අතරින් වලසකුගේ ජීවිතය බේරාගත් පළමු අවස්‌ථාව මෙය නොවන බවය.

සිත්පිත් නැති මිනිසුන් මහා කැලෑවේ අහිංසක සතුන්ට තනනු ලබන මර උගුල්වලට හසුවෙන සතුන් අතර මිනිසුන්ද සිටින බව වනජීවී නිලධාරියකු පැවසීය.

වල් ඌරන් මුවන්, ගෝනුන්, ඉත්තෑවන්, හාවන් අල්ලා ගැනීම සඳහා දඩයම්කරුවන් මහා රෑ මෙසේ මර උගුල් තනන බව වනජීවී කාර්යාලය කියයි.

නෝමන් පලිහවඩන

Source:http://www.divaina.com/2012/11/11/feature07.html

Are environmental resources being embezzled?

Environmentalists claim the country’s nature reserves and wildlife in general are under severe threat due to actions of some government politicians and the ‘inaction’, and in some cases open connivance of the authorities. The main problem according to them is the sad state of affairs prevailing at the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC).
The Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) has been in existence since 1949. The DWC is responsible for 22 national parks, 65 sanctuaries, five nature reserves, and three strict nature reserves, covering some 15 percent of the total protected areas both on land and at sea. However, environmentalists claim that the DWC is currently unable to carry out its duties efficiently due to a number of reasons and that this has resulted in many instances of wildlife coming under threat.
Sajeewa Chamikara of the Environment Conservation Trust (ECT) accused the authorities of allowing the DWC to become a “demoralized and confused” institution. “Honest officials at the Department are unable to carry out their duties and the department is losing the respect it inspired in the public and fear it inspired in wrongdoers,” he added.
Among the main reasons for the problems at the Department is the failure to fill the vacancy of the post of the DWC’s Director General (DG). The post has been vacant for well over a year now with the Secretary to the Ministry of Agrarian Services and Wildlife serving as acting DG. However, the conduct of the DG has come in for severe criticism from environmental groups, who accuse him of a host of irregularities and acts of corruption.
Environmental lawyer Jagath Gunawardena and other environmentalists were “deeply puzzled” by the failure to appoint a person to the topmost position at the DWC, particularly as there were more than enough qualified individuals within the Department to fill the vacancy. “There are officers from the scientific service within the Department who are qualified for the position and yet it’s puzzling as to why the ministry secretary continues to serve as the acting DG,” he told The Nation.
Environmentalists also pointed the finger of blame at former Minister of Agrarian Services and Wildlife S M Chandrasena, who is now the deputy minister in charge of the same ministry. They claim the minister also chose to look the other way despite numerous instances where the conduct of the acting DG came into question.
Among the latest allegations levelled at the acting DG are that he has illegally given approval for 4,000 acres of land belonging to the Elahera-Girithale reserve to be distributed among 1,041 families in the area, and also for allowing a massive stone quarry to operate inside the reserve. The reserve functions as a major elephant corridor for herds moving from the Wasgamuwa National Park to the Minneriya National Park, according to environmentalists.
Addressing a press conference in Colombo this week, environmentalist Pubudu Weeratane accused the acting DG of transferring officers at the Department who were actively engaged in the protection of wildlife. “Even the head of the division in charge of conducting raids has been transferred,” to a national park he alleged.
A few weeks ago, environmentalists and the media shed light on the issue of private ‘eco-tourism’ operators illegally operating permanent campsites inside several of the country’s main national parks, including Yala and Wilpattu. However, Deputy Minister Chandrasena and the acting DG of the DWC rejected the accusations at the time. However, the sites were promptly removed after President Mahinda Rajapaksa issued a directive when he was informed of the activities while attending district development committee meeting in Hambantota.
When The Nation contacted Secretary to the Ministry of Agrarian Services and Wildlife and Acting Director General of the DWC Udeni Wickramasinghe regarding these allegations, he stated he would prefer to answer them in a face-to-face interview. “They (environmentalists) have been levelling many such allegations at me for a long time. I cannot answer all of them just now, but am prepared to go over them one by one and answer in an interview,” he said.
Attempts made to contact Deputy Minister of Agrarian Services and Wildlife S M Chandrasena proved futile as we were told he was attending a string of meetings in Anuradhapura.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa is now the Minister of Agrarian Services and Wildlife. The ministry automatically passed onto him when S M Chandrasena resigned from his post to make way for his brother S M Ranjith to become Chief Minister of the North-Central Province. As such, environmentalists point out that the responsibility of ensuring the safety of the island’s wildlife now rests on his shoulders. While welcoming the President’s directive to remove national park campsites, they point out that it is inevitable that he will be judged on his conduct in the future as well, with regard to issues facing the country’s wildlife.

Source:http://www.nation.lk

Elephant orphanage stages mass baptism

Sri Lanka's main elephant orphanage has staged its biggest mass baptism, naming 15 baby elephants born in captivity.

Thirteen calves born in 2011 and two in 2010 were given names chosen from among thousands suggested by visitors to the Pinnawala orphanage, director Nihal Senaratne said.
"An astrologer looked at the time of birth of each elephant. He then decided on the first letter of each baby's name according to its horoscope," Mr Senaratne said.
"The lucky letters were published and visitors were asked to suggest names accordingly," he said, adding that Sunday's ceremony was the biggest ever at the facility since it opened in 1975.
Foreign visitors to the orphanage named two of the calves Trinky and Elvina, while the others were given popular Sinhalese names including Mangala, meaning ceremonial, Singithi, meaning small and Ahinsa, meaning innocent.
The orphanage, in a coconut grove about 80 kilometres east of Colombo, is a major tourist attraction and large crowds were present for Sunday's ceremony.
Formally established in 1975, the orphanage shelters 83 elephants, most of whom were abandoned or separated from their herds when they were babies. Many have also been born at the orphanage.
Elephants are considered sacred animals in Sri Lanka and a number of the calves born at Pinnawala have been gifted to Buddhist temples to be paraded during annual pageants.
Sri Lanka's elephant population remains healthy despite decades of fighting between government and rebel forces in the island's north-east, with a survey last year showing there were over 7,000 in the wild.
AFP