‘Ecological’ fence better bet

The ‘administrative’ fence faces more damage than the ‘ecological’ fence, Ashoka’s research has determined, making the location of the fence critical.

This is because people are seen and engage in activity close to the ‘ecological’ fence and if there is any damage they repair it quickly. This seems a good deterrent against breaching.

There is also a behavioural change among the villagers when they feel that the fence is not reliable, according to Ashoka. Pel rakinawa, nidi maranawa, he says, pointing out that they are up the whole night in attempts to protect their crops. They are also like prisoners in their own homes, unable to leave their cultivations for a single night.

Explaining that in 2013, there were very few private electric fences, he says that now almost all village homes have a locally-made electric fence around their properties, which is about 98% successful in keeping wild elephants at bay.

The most probable conclusion that could be drawn from this is that as in other areas of the country, it seems that community-run village electric fences may work around Uda Walawe too, while the DWC fence seems to be clearly entangled in trouble in the elephantbreaching issue. would make their leisurely way back into the NP anytime between dawn and morning, 4-6 a.m.

Before Ashoka launches into the minute details of his study, he talks of an interesting and intriguing image seared into his mind. A young bull-elephant would swagger along the fence confidently with raised trunk, as if to assess the risks and dangers. Was this bull-elephant checking whether heat was emanating from the electric fence? The answer is yet in the balance, as it has not been substantiated scientifically.

But there are many other elephant-actions including the amazing ‘use of tools’ that he has witnessed while swatting mosquitoes in a tiny hut up in a tree, glancing this way or that from his jeep or peeping through a window of a village home.

“Usually, the only other animals associated with the use of tools are mainly primates such as chimpanzees and orangutans,” points out Ashoka. (See Box)

In an 11-month research in 2014-15 in which he used camera traps to gather scientific data on the elephant crop-raiders of Uda Walawe, he focused on the three ‘border-villages’ of Pokunutenne, Neraluwa and Dahaiyagala along its northern borders.

Ashoka is appreciative of the ready cooperation extended by the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) in granting him permission to conduct the study and the Uda Walawe NP Warden Kalum Pathirana. Wildlife conservationist Ajith Sandanayake, meanwhile, had helped him in datacollection, with valuable inputs from Dr. Prithiviraj Fernando of the Centre for Conservation and Research and former DWC Director-General Dr. Sumith Pilapitiya on designing the study. The Rufford Foundation based in the United Kingdom had funded the research.

While the Uda Walawe NP covers an area of 308sqkm and has a boundary meandering over 100km, it lies contiguous with the Dahaiyagala Sanctuary and the Bogahapattiya Forest Reserve to the north and the Wetahira-Kanda Sanctuary and the Lunugamvehera NP to the east. It is used by around 1,000 elephants and it has been found that their habitat extends beyond its boundaries and covers adjacent conservation and non-conservation areas.

Kauda gam walata panina ali or who are the elephant-raiders was the question to which Ashoka was seeking answers, along with how many are doing so and how they are overcoming the obstacle that looms ahead of them -- the electric fence that the DWC has erected to dissuade them. It runs through small forest patches in some places, while several public roads cross it in the Dahaiyagala Sanctuary. The fence also has entry points, protected by detachable electric wires linked to the roads.

The elephants’ favourite haunt is Pokunutenne, home to about 100 families. As such, Ashoka had selected a two-km stretch of fence between Pokunutenne and the NP, tracing the permanent footpaths of the elephants. Having found the breaches easily, it was at these spots that he fixed infra-red night vision camera traps, not to ‘catch’ the elephants, just their images.

The person tasked with maintaining the fence, Premalal of the Civil Defence Force who accompanied him would quickly repair the breaches. In the night, from 5.30 p.m. to 6.30 a.m. the next day, Ashoka would trek the same path checking the voltage emanating from the electric fence. The voltage is meant to give elephants a shock to deter them from crossing but not injure or kill them. He would also spend many a night in the village-homes, keeping watch.

This two-km stretch had been earmarked into two segments by Ashoka – a one-km ‘ecological’ fence separating the NP from the village and the other a one-km ‘administrative’ fence which runs through a patch of forest which is part of the village, just outside the NP boundary.

Next morning he would go back along the same fence and check how many posts had been toppled by the elephants and in what direction, whether away from or towards the NP to check their crossing patterns and also whether damage had been caused to the wires.

In the early days of his research, he had found that the voltage along the fence was not regulated and the elephants were crossing to both sides at will. However, even after the DWC installed a new unit early last year and the voltage was regulated, the elephants were still breaching this protective measure by toppling the posts.

When next the wire carrying the electricity was wound around the posts, the ‘elephant breakthroughs’ had indeed dwindled along that stretch, with posts along other stretches becoming their target.