Recently the issue of unprotected agro-wells into which elephants frequently fall and die unless rescued in time, has come into sharp focus. Elephants, particularly in the Kalawewa area of the NCP, which has a large number of agro-wells, come into villages to feed on cultivations and frequently fall into these wells. Yet, successive Directors of the Department of Wildlife Conservation and Ministers have paid little or no attention to this problem, allowing elephants and young calves to continue to suffer a cruel fate. The present Minister, on assuming office, showed his concern for fauna and flora, by saying that in Sri Lanka not only people but the environment too was faced with violence. However, there seems to be a big gap between sentiment and action because with regard to the danger to elephants from open agro-wells, it has taken him three years to turn his attention to this problem.

In a recent incident at Kekirawa, a man was killed by a she elephant rescued from an agro-well into which she and her calf had fallen. TV viewers watched in horror how, getting out of the well, the mother elephant chased after the man and catching up with him, trampled and killed him. Apparently the mother elephant was enraged and agitated by the large and noisy crowd of people gathered there, fearing they would harm her calf.

 The death of the man in the above case cannot be blamed on the traumatised she elephant. The Department of Wildlife Conservation, (DWLC) must take the blame for serious lapses on its part in dealing with this and other such critical situations. When informed of any critical problem, be it elephants fallen into wells, injured elephants or even elephants on the rampage, it is often the case that DWLC officials do not arrive at the spot soon enough and by the time they come, villagers have already started rescue operations. The reason for this delay is said to be the insufficient number of field officers in the DWLC to deal with critical issues. Finally, when the officers arrive, they are not even armed with fire crackers required to scare the elephants, and prevent them from attacking people. Further, they do not have the necessary machinery such as backhoes close at hand to excavate the wells and rescue the elephants; and while officers go out in search of such machinery, invariably, the elephant dies in the well. Crowd control is also vital in carrying out elephant rescues in order to safeguard people. DWLC officers must be present at rescue operations to ensure that villagers stay some distance away from the elephant. Pictures of the incident at Kekirawa show how a large crowd had gathered at the very mouth of the well where the rescue operations were going on.

The tragic incident was followed by more cases of she elephants and calves falling into wells in the Kekirawa, Kalawewa areas. It was reported that the Environment Minister Champika Ranawaka, had instructed Wildlife officials to get Grama Sevakas to enlist peoples’ support to put up barbed wire fences around unprotected agro-wells. We are surprised that the Minister has divested himself so easily of his responsibility in this serious issue of elephants falling into unprotected agro-wells. 

His solution has come very late, after the death of a man and the deaths of numerous elephants and calves. If the solution is as simple as giving an order to the DWLC officials to put up barbed wire fencing around  agro wells, the Minister should have taken this step immediately after he took office three years ago, thereby preventing many elephants and calves falling into wells and dying there.

How practical is the Minister’s plan to have barbed wire fencing around agro-wells? Or, is it just a sop thrown to the concerned public who saw the horrendous fate both man and beast suffered as a result of a treacherous agro-well? There are around two to three hundred agro-wells around cultivated areas in Kalawewa, particularly in areas of chena cultivations. These wells are extremely large, about 20 – 30 feet in diameter and ten feet or more in depth. We are informed that several of these wells were constructed, not by farmers, but by persons with the intention of acquiring land around them. There are also several wells abandoned and unused by farmers. Therefore, many agro-wells do not serve any agricultural purpose but are allowed to remain, serving as treacherous traps for elephants, and possibly humans, too.

In order to arrive at a practical solution, the Minister must ask the DWLC to conduct a quick survey of agro-wells in the NCP, with a prompt report, taking into account the views of DWLC field officers, Divisional Secretaries, Grama Sevakas, farmers and NGOs of the area, who are best aware of the ground realities on this matter. Whatever the solution, there must be no delay and cost should not be a deterrent, as the cost to us in the destruction of our precious wildlife is immeasurable. It must also be remembered that just as much as it is thought necessary to destroy land mines in the war zones posing a major threat to human lives, the Minister and the DWLC, have a duty to stop the constant threat to elephants from unprotected agro-wells. It is a shame that through the years the custodians of our wildlife have condemned our elephants to live with this threat in addition to all other severe threats they face.