The many shades of wildlife protection | Sunday Observer

The many shades of wildlife protection

1 July, 2018
Wildlife officers try to rescue an entangled elephant
Wildlife officers try to rescue an entangled elephant

With the recent reports of deaths of several animals in the presence of the wildlife officers, blame fell on the department for failing to protect the animals, while the root causes underlying these shortcomings that should be addressed for more effective conservation remains debated.:

Last week, a brutal killing of a leopard by the villagers in Ambalakulam, Kilinochchi went viral, where the villagers captured and tortured the leopard to death, after it was said to be sedated by the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) officers. In Girandurukotte, a DWC officer was attacked and killed while attempting to drive away a herd of elephants from that area.A few months ago, a bear in Thambalagamuwa , Trincomalee sustained an injury to the eye when a firearm went off accidentally while DWC officers were attempting to control the animal. It died later. Then there is the heart wrenching video of last year, when a mother elephant rescued from a well in Omanthai, was shot by a DWC officer when it ventured close to the backhoe.

All these, taken together, gives rise to the fundamental question, why wild animals are not protected adequately, when there is an institution established for the very purpose, namely the DWC. Clearly, there are shortcomings in protecting wild life, but whether these are legal, institutional or external factors giving rise to institutional issues, remains the question.

Shortage of manpower

Rangers are the ground level officers involved in conservation and protection of wildlife, and hence are an excellent source of knowledge and experience of practical difficulties encountered in conservation efforts. Speaking of the issues faced at ground level, President of the Assistant Rangers’ Union, Saman Liyanagama says one of the main issues lie in the inadequate number of officers involved in protection. “There is 14% landmass of the country under DWC and only between 700 to 800 officers, which is an inadequate number. The number of officers should be increased to offer adequate protection to wildlife,” he says. Liyanagama adds that since there are practical difficulties in adding these numbers immediately, capacity building via education and training can serve to narrow this gap to a certain extent. “Sri Lanka is a country with high biodiversity. Therefore, protective measures should concentrate around conserving species, genetic and ecosystem diversity as a whole,” he says.

Experts outside the DWC agree that the Department needs more manpower, alongside training and equipment to tackle the conservation efforts required around the country.

Professor in the Department of Zoology and Environment Sciences, University of Colombo, Dr. Nihal Dayawansa says there is a need for better facilities and the morale of the officers needs a boost. “ The Wildlife Training Centre has very little equipment. I am not sure whether the officers receive adequate training to handle the rampaging animals,” he says. He adds that there are issues with transport in certain areas, for example on Delft Island.

Environmentalist and Attorney at Law, Jagath Gunawardana sees several areas that need addressing for effective protection and conservation. “DWC protects 14 % land mass of the country and a large number of species, including those in the marine environment. However, they have less than 1000 officers involved in protection, this number should be increased five fold for effective conservation,” he says.

However, since recruitment cannot be immediate, police, tri forces, Central Environment Authority and other related bodies should be requested to collaborate with wildlife officers in the meantime, to tackle these wildlife issues, he added.

Focused training for officers

Often blamed for their failed attempts to save animals at risk, these officers are at times demotivated, and frustrated. According to Gunawardana there lies the need for morale enhancement of the officers, via necessary appraisal, encouragement and rewards, in addition to providing them with facilities such as quick transport, necessary equipment and more focused training . The country has to be grateful to the DWC officers who do their best with minimal facilities at times, he says. Gunawardana further said that there is a necessity of more focused attention from specialists and interested parties, to address these issues. “Although, interested parties do exist, very few of them are willing to come forward to assist any mitigating efforts,” he says.

Thus, specialists need to provide more active support to the department. At the same time, Gunawardana emphasises the importance of a coordinating mechanism to obtain support from interested parties, including specialists and Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs). Further, it is important for the DWC to develop its own personnel as specialists in different fields, he says.

Adding to this, Dr. Dayawansa says there is a need for a National Forum to discuss the human- wild life conflict, which would be aggravated with time. “Thus, we need a permanent forum, with the authorities, experts and the youth, directed at raising awareness at solving these issues.” He adds, at the moment, dialogues on wildlife appear with certain incidents, but die down with time. Also, most existing dialogues only focus on large vertebrates, while other endemic species, such as snakes, are killed on a large scale.

There is also the question of whether the DWC is concentrating on other related areas instead of on their primary duties. The focus of the DWC should be on protection and enforcement of habitat and species, rather than on outreach programmes, which actually lie outside the purview of the DWC, says Gunawardana .

If the focus is on protecting a certain species, then, efforts should concentrate on a protected area surrounding the animal, Liyanagama says. He emphasises the importance of maintaining a network of such protected areas. “It is important to increase the number of protected areas in the country, especially in the Wet Zone, where the protected areas remain minimal.”

He adds that wetlands in Attidiya and Muthurajawela, in Colombo district are threatened on a large scale, along with the species present in them.“ We have requested the authorities to increase the number of protected areas, but to no avail,” he says.

Speaking of declaring more protected areas, Director General of Department of Wildlife Conservation Chandana Sooriyabandara says, Sri Lanka currently has the optimal protected areas possible for a country. According to him, instead, the efforts should be to conserve the existing protected areas, without changing the land use pattern.

“For example, land from protected areas should not be converted for development projects,” said Sooriyabandara.

At the same time, numbers are needed to ensure that the protected areas remain protected, leading back to the issues highlighted above. Sooriyabandara adds, although the department is willing to welcome any additional manpower, there is also the need for DWC to work efficiently via different types of strategies. “There are certain limitations when it comes to adding manpower,” he says.

Sooriyabandara further says, raising awareness among the people on human- wildlife conflict and on the necessity of conserving the wildlife for future generations remain more important than capacity building within the DWC. “Ignorance of the public on these areas is a major factor hindering the DWC officers in carrying out their duties,” he insists.

The fundamental duty of protecting wildlife lies with the DWC, while it is increasingly evident that it needs more manpower, facilities and focused training to effectively protect and conserve.

At the same time, there lies a tendency for the authorities and experts to direct the focus away from these underlying issues, leading to unresolved issues and ineffective conservation efforts. Thus, there is a need for urgent mechanism to address these issues, to minimisne the loss of wildlife due to these shortfalls.

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