Chamikara Weerasinghe
The Department of Wildlife Conservation is cooperating strategically with Sri Lanka Railways to prevent increasing elephant deaths on railway tracks before it can manifest into a elephant-train conflict as in India where at least 15 elephants die annually due to being run over by speeding goods trains.
It has been revealed after an inspection tour of Gal Oya and Kanthale railway tracks by Agrarian and Wildlife Minister Chandrasena, that overgrown shrubberies that have spread up to railway tracks are the reson for majority of train-hit elephant accidents in Sri Lanka.Eight elephants, three males, three females and two baby elephants were killed on account of being hit by trains this year, sources at Wildlife Department said.
“The animals have lost their track in search of leaves, twigs, grass and flowers for their diet,” said Wildlife Department Elephant Conservation Unit Deputy Director Pathirathna.
“It will be necessary to grow vegetation around railway tracks to ensure the safety of elephants.
“However, this is not going to be a fully-fledged solution to the problem,” Pathirathne pointed out.
Trains that operate cris-crossing through these forest areas with elephant population will have to be upgraded, he said.
Some of these trains do not have proper horn kits, some do not have headlights, and some do not even have proper speed metres and speed control mechanism, he explained.
He said the Wildlife Department has met with Sri Lanka Railway operations to discuss the matters. We are taking steps to restore these conditions under a joint Trains Hit Mitigation Project to save elephants from fatal collisions before it can turn into a serious train-elephant conflict.
“We have carried out surveys in accident prone areas. We plan to monitor these areas for the safety of the animals,” he said.
The Wildlife Department has proposed to provide patrolling teams along certain railway stretches to prevent possible elephant-train accidents. The railway stretch between Buttala and Katharagama would be one of them, he said.
“We requested Railway authorities to fill the spaces between sleepers of the railway tracks with more stones so that it will prevent the jumbos getting stuck between the distance between the sleepers as a precautionary measure,” he added.
At least Rs 15 million would be needed to address the issue on a pragmatic footing, he said.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2011/10/12/news26.asp
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