Conserving Sri Lanka’s High Risk Elephant Population

At the end of my second year at university in 2015, I undertook an internship with the Sri Lankan Wildlife Conservation Society (SLWCS) working with Elephants in Wasgamuwa, Sri Lanka to study management strategies used to minimise conflict. Wasgamuwa had the reputation for being the bloodiest location for human-elephant conflict with frequent loss of life from both sides. Ravi Corea the founder of SLWCS stated, ’’The relationship with Elephants is a paradox as on the one side the Elephant is a sacred animal on the other it is a rogue that comes and destroys everything precious to rural farmers’’. This succinctly sums up the human-elephant conflict.

I left Melbourne for home in October after my exams concluded earlier than anticipated. It was the first time I flew alone and the experience was valuable. The first leg from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur was the best flight ever in all my years of air travel. As the economy area where I was seated was mostly vacant I was able to move around and sit where I pleased. The cabin crew treated us like first class passengers, providing extra servings of food since there were so few of us. The second leg of my journey from Kuala Lumpur to Colombo however was on a much smaller crowded plane. I got to spend time with my family after being away from home for eight months before I joined the rest of the team at Renuka City Hotel when they arrived in Colombo in late November.

Dr. Mike Weston, my Course Director who also joined us on the trip introduced me to Shannon, Udari and Amira. I was glad to see Hannah and Melissa again, two good friends from with whom I had studied with during the year. This was the start of a grand adventure for the six of us who quickly became the best of friends.

The journey to Wasgamuwa was very pleasant. We were to spend a month in their field house which overlooked a major lake. We caught the 7am train to Kandy from the Fort Railway station. I stood in the doorway of the train for most of the journey, as Sri Lankans usually do, enjoying the breeze on my face. We passed through two long tunnels and reached Kandy at 10am where we were picked up by a private bus which took us to our destination. We were accompanied by the SLWCS research scientist Chathuranga who made a big impression because he had a leg in plaster, and Jo an ecologist from Australia who also joined us at Kandy. We passed some beautiful landscapes of rivers, waterfalls, forest canopy and of course saw many monkeys. When we arrived at Wasgamuwa we were met by the project manager, Chinthaka. The last stretch of road to the field house could only be travelled by his seasoned Jeep.

We were greeted by our caretaker/cooks Leela, Swarna and Leelaratne, three adorable little kittens Albie, Hazel, and Stripes which we later renamed Curd, Curry and Sambol, and our guard dog Bull. There were other volunteers there too. Brenna, Olivia, Yufei and Louise were helping Kylie, a Ph.D. student from Australia research Beehive Fencing as a deterrent to Elephant invasions.

The field house where we were to stay had very basic facilities. My bed had a mosquito net attached to it. There was no hot water, the house boasted unpainted, unfinished brick walls, a very basic roof, one table with two laptops, TV and a small collection of scientific and animal guide books.

On the evening of the first day Chinthaka and Chathuranga instructed us on safety measures and also assigned us the projects we were going to be working on for four weeks. In addition to working with Elephants, Hannah and I were paired to do a project on the diversity of reptiles and amphibians, Amira and Udari on birds and Melissa and Shannon on butterflies.

Hannah and I designed our own study to survey diversity of reptiles and amphibians in the region. Our design involved the use of pitfall traps, tile traps and observational surveys. We also agreed to collect data on other animals to build an archive for the organisation to use in the future.

I developed the skill of setting pitfall and tile traps for reptiles and amphibians. We used garden pots as pitfall traps and vehicle floorboard mats as tile traps. I also improved on my bird identification thanks to Dr. Mike Weston, Chathuranga, and Indika. My ability to work in a team also improved as I often helped the girls in my group, researching the diversity of birds and butterflies. At first our pitfall traps were unsuccessful in catching anything, so we decided to place nets over the opening so that frogs could not hop out of the pots.

On the last few days of our project Hannah and I fell victims to thieves. We lost 9 of our pitfall traps and every single one of our tile traps. What was most amusing to us was that the thieves had carefully pulled back all the camouflage we had kept for the tile traps and left behind the drift nets from our pitfall traps. Hannah and I did have a jolly good laugh. On Sampath’s suggestion we informed the village chief of the theft and told him that we had evidence of the thieves from a few of our camera traps (we were bluffing) and if the items were not returned within the next few days we would inform the police of the theft. Consequent to which every single vehicle floor mat and flower pot were returned to us within two days. The village chief said the items were at his doorstep when he opened the door in the morning. At the end of the project we were successful in capturing three freshwater crabs, a skink, and a frog. We also observed a Ring Tailed Civet, a Mugger Crocodile, an Annulated Sea Snake and a Green Keelback.

The local people were so friendly and warm. Little children came running out to wave to us every time we pass by their homes. The local community was very interested in our projects and were keen to help in any way. I made friends with Dilhan a student volunteering at SLWCS while awaiting admission to university.

Our project to study Elephants failed and I was very disappointed. Due to heavy rains the elephants had not ventured out of the deep jungle, unlike in the summer when there is no rain. I only saw eight elephants including two calves on a single occasion, during my stay sitting from the vantage point of the tree hut in the elephant corridor.

Till the beginning of December the food, though plentiful was vegetarian and lacking in variety. I missed the meats, and was disappointed that we were served the same type of food with monotonous regularity. However the cooks upped their game and the food got better and better from that point onwards.

Sampath, Chinthaka and Chathuranga treated us as though we had been friends for years. Supun and Sarath our field assistants kept us entertained all the time and were always willing to drive us anywhere and at any time and gladly transported us to our study sites. Swarna, Leela and Leelaratne treated us like royalty and always had meals ready for us when we returned from field work.

My role more or less remained the same. The university placed me in charge of the group and I was expected to look out for ‘my’ five girls (as everyone joked), whenever we were out in the field and especially when we were out sightseeing around the country on weekends. I also helped Chathuranga with his Master’s project on the ecology of the Dull Blue Flycatcher. I helped him sort through a bird’s nest by separating the different types of material the bird had used to build it.

One day our Jeep broke down 1km from our study site, deep inside the jungle and was also stuck in the mud. At once all of us jumped out and push the jeep out of the mud. We even had a very close call where while driving back to the field house one stormy evening our driver almost collided with an electric fence. If the vehicle had struck the fence we would have been electrocuted considering the vehicle was travelling through a storm. Despite the fences being set to stun elephants, the locals illegally increase the voltage to a sufficient level to kill elephants instead.

There are serious barriers to future conservation efforts in the region. As is often the case, politics is the biggest issue here with politicians who have no clue about biodiversity holding high office. The government which is supposed to protect people and elephants remains indifferent and ignorant. SLWCS had planned to start a free school bus service in the Elephant Corridor for school children in the region, but the government demanded a sum of Rs. 550,000 for the bus permit. The villagers here do not listen to the scientists at SLWCS especially when it comes to human behaviour around elephants and maintaining the electric fences. Poaching is also a major challenge here where well disguised traps are set for wild boar and deer, but the traps ultimately injure and kill elephants as well as humans who accidentally step into them.

Every year there is slashing and burning of forests for agriculture, further reducing the habitat for elephants. The villagers are now encroaching into the National Park and protected areas further endangering elephants and other animals too. There is also illegal purchase and ownership of guns and ammunition to scare off and kill elephants despite all the effort of the SLWCS to minimise the conflict. The situation is disheartening.

The last few days went by very quickly. I celebrated my 21st birthday in the jungle with a cake bought from a small village bakery. The Weheragala lake which is one of our study sites began breaching the bund due to incessant rain. This gave us the perfect opportunity for some refreshing lake swims after our tiring mornings. The most exciting part was the lake’s resident Mugger Crocodile, fondly named ‘’Crocodoodledoo’’ by Shannon and Hannah. Even though we were assured that he would not attack humans it was still a daring experience to swim in the lake under his watchful eye.

One night we decided to make pizza for dinner. Amira was the head chef with her work experience at a pizza shop in Australia. When we began ‘cooking’ at 6pm after returning from the tree hut the power failed and we were in complete darkness. Leelaratne fetched us some emergency lamps and I got us some torches. Udari, Chathuranga, Sampath. Leelaratne, Leela and I started chopping and grating the pumpkin, potatoes, garlic, onion and tomatoes all by torch light. It was pretty hilarious given that we were making so many mistakes in terms of ingredients, preparation and style of cooking. Amira was not too pleased with any of us. Chinthaka, Chathuranga and Sampath also came to help us make our pizza and added to Amira’s annoyance with their comments and teasing, while her only goal was to get the pizzas out as soon as possible. We were able to make the sauce on the gas stove and Chathuranga, took the lead. Amira estimated that dinner will only be served at 10pm the earliest. I thought with the amount of goofing off happening it would be closer to morning by the time we had dinner. Luckily for us Hannah, Shannon and Melisa helped Amira prepare the dough for the pizza while Udari and I ‘kept an eye’ on things in the kitchen. Amira’s biggest worry was that since we didn’t have the proper ingredients to make the pizza that it would be a complete disaster at the end. Luckily for Amira, the power came back at 8pm. The first three pizzas came out really well, despite the fact that the dough was more like biscuit. We all thought we were on track for the pizza but the oven gave up its ghost and the circuit breaker kept tripping. As a last resort Amira moved to make the pizza on the stove. The idea was brilliant till we discovered that the oil was not hot enough when Amira dropped the pizza into the pan which was too small for our pizza. Our final product was more of a Roti or Parata rather than a pizza. You can imagine our head chef’s mood at this point. I really thought poor Amira was going to cry as the final product which resulted due to these multiple misadventures was nothing like a pizza even though it tasted like one. She started off full of excitement and at the end she was like a dejected Bull Terrier. Chinthaka who had previously been an expert Roti and Parata Chef made the last few pizzas. The rest of the gang including myself were discussing how to make the other dishes and making fun of the processes of who was going to make those dishes. So now you know why it took so long to finish making the pizzas and why poor Amira was at her wits end. It was in short, a memorable night, cooking with minimal ingredients, no power, but great company.

Our journey back from Wasgamuwa to Colombo was very tiring. We left at 4am as we needed to reach Colombo before 2pm so that three members of my group could extend their visa. We got stuck in the infamous Colombo traffic and we were disappointed with the van we travelled in! I said goodbye to my team and returned to my home, a twenty minutes’ drive from the Immigration office.

It was great to be back home after spending almost a month away from my family and the ‘person’ I missed the most was my dog Jessie. I needed to get used to the wonderful, pothole-free roads in Colombo after spending 26 days travelling on muddy crater-filled roads, seated sideways in a crowded jeep. I really missed the company I had in Wasgamuwa and especially missed my team with whom I have shared so many fun memories. I missed the three kittens and the dog Bull, the early morning sunrise, the beautiful views of the lake, the simple, but delicious food and all the lovely birds which were my companions for almost a month.

I had made several new friends: Tina Plessers, who works with Elephants in Belgium, Brenna Cianci from the U.S who is a wild cat lover just like me, Yufie a Veterinary student from China, Olivia also from the U.S who works for an animal rights organisation, Kylie, the Ph.D. student and Brianna and Louise her assistants.

On the local scene I buddied up with our two field assistants Supun who is of the same age as me and Sarath, as well as Dilhan, Chathuranga, Sampath and Chinthaka. Swarna, Leela and Leelaratne too have a special place since they took such good care of me. I am also friends with Pincha the local farmer who helped us with our projects. Last, but not least my team Udari, Amira, Melissa, Shannon and Hannah with whom I had memorable moments and look forward to sharing many more projects in the future.

I believed that I had made a meaningful contribution to SLWCS. The organisation now has a list of birds, butterflies, reptiles and amphibians of the region which they can expand on with future internship projects. The fact that Hannah and I worked with very limited equipment and animal guides that were somewhat outdated and still managed to carry out a successful project shows that we do not need fancy equipment and technology as much as commitment to work on most projects. I was also able to give the resident scientist my views on certain projects that they plan to carry out next year, such as the recycling plant they planned to construct.

I would most definitely love to return and assist this organisation because they are working towards a very noble cause and are doing all they can with limited resources and little support - to conserve wildlife, especially elephants, and bring about a society where wildlife and humans live together in peace and harmony. I have already told them that I would visit them in the future and look forward to more joyous and fulfilling times as we work towards this common goal.

My perceptions of the environment have indeed changed. On the local plain I am really blessed to have been born and to live in a country such as Sri Lanka with such natural diversity and beauty. We have so many different types of habitats and landscapes with so many varieties of animals. Living in Australia for the past 8 months had also made me realise that there too, we have so many different habitats with amazingly weird but wonderful creatures. My study and internship experiences have made me even more determined to conserve these wonderful habitats and their occupants.