Good News.
More vets to Wildlife Department
By Nilma DOLE
nilma@sundayobserver.lk

We have obtained approval from the Treasury to increase our wildlife veterinary staff from 6 to 11 throughout the country, said the Director General of the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWLC) Ananda Wijesooriya. He said that an examination set up by the Animal Health Service Department under the Livestock Development Ministry will determine the recruitment process into the DWLC.

We have also sent some of our vets to USA for training in wildlife aspects to obtain better expertise, he said. Despite allegations that the DWLC officials aren't looking into wildlife issues, the Deputy General said that it was due to the fact they are presently understaffed and lack resources to effectively carry out duties. We are financially unstable to address wildlife problems, said Wijesooriya.

Recently, a three-year-old male leopard succumbed to its injuries earlier this week when it was found in a trap near the Nanu Oya/Nuwara Eliya area.

The trap was set up by a local resident displaying how unfortunate that the leopards have been long-suffering in the human-animal conflict, making them an endangered species. Says eye-witness Sunil Hettiarachchi who observed this incident, It was evident that the wildlife officials who took the injured leopard lack basic resources and the nearest vet had to take a 10 hour drive from the Wasgamuwa National Park to attend to it.

However, if treatment by a wildlife doctor was given promptly, the leopard would be alive today, he said.

Hoorrendous Story...
Tuesday, September 9th,2008
by Ruwani H.

I'd like to relate some news to you of a trapped leopard near the Nanu Oya/ Nuwara Eliya area on Tuesday, September 9th.   This news came from my parents who were on their way to Nuwara Eliya that morning-they are on their way back today and are available to relate the story to you first hand in the event that you may want to follow up.

My parents saw a large crowd gathered, and a male leopard (around two years old), trapped and clearly injured in it's lower abdomen.  News had been relayed of the leopard to both the Colombo Wildlife Department and their branch office in Nuwara Eliya.  The branch office despatched a vehicle and a tranquilizer gun to the scene and managed to release the leopard from its trap, having subdued it.  My father believes that the dosage may have been excessive and followed the authorities back to the
(meager) wildlife office where the animal was kept.  My parents did suggest trying to dry the animal who was wet through, and also to clean and disinfect his injuries, but the officers (no vet was present yet) were very reluctant to do either, and finally after much insistence tried to dry the shivering animal with paper serviettes and a weak hair-drier.

In the meantime, I contacted both the Wildlife conservation trust and the Wildlife Department, I was looped around the phone system until I finally managed to reach the legal department, who I was told were the responsible party.  Dr Taraka, from the legal department in Colombo was somewhat helpful, in that he assured me that a vet had been despatched from Wasgamuwa to attend to the leopard and asked for my parents' phone numbers so he may keep in touch.

He had been in touch with my parents, who were with the leopard, but the vet from Wasgamuwa took 10 hours to reach Nuwara Eliya.  By this time the animal had been presented to the local magistrates office and finally a local veterinarian was rustled up to attend to the leopard, who was fairly traumatized, partially injured in it's abdomen and not fully recovered from the tranquilizers.  My father insists that this indecision and the length of time that the leopard was kept unattended to would adversely affect the animal.

By Tuesday evening, my father called me with the news that the leopard had been released into Horton Plains, and to colour this with his opinion, he in fact said the animal may not survive in the weak condition he was in.

The next day, my father sent me a message telling me that as expected, the animal had died that very evening.  He had followed up with the authorities, and they had casually told him the news.

Emotion aside, there are a few questions on our minds, but are at a loss as to whom we should ask them from:

1. My parents are lay-people with a rudimentary knowledge of leopards, but are animal lovers nonetheless, if they were able to assess that the leopard was in no condition to be released, why were the wildlife authorities not able to come to the same conclusion?

2. Why was the wildlife authority so indecisive?  And why were emergency actions not taken earlier?

3. Why are there such poor conditions to clean, dry and attend to a distressed animal?

4. If there was a repeat event of the same nature, will we lose another animal?

Some of these may be rhetorical, and have probably been asked before several times in different circumstances.    one very much worth telling.  With Gehan's help, I've contacted individuals that will be able to provide some visibility to this story, which I believe is one worth telling.

Human-leopard conflict in Sri Lanka
by Andrew Kittle
Human-elephant conflict is a familiar theme in Sri Lanka , with large numbers of both human and elephant casualties every year, mostly as a result of crop-raiding elephants meeting with members of rural communities.  However, while being by far the most severe and widespread, this is not the only form of human-wildlife conflict manifest on the island.  Leopards are the top carnivores in the country, at the apex of the food chain in habitats as diverse as the arid thorn scrub of the south-east to the rain-drenched montane forests of the central hills, and most in between.  Renowned for being elusive and possessing the ability to survive in close proximity to human settlements, the leopard remains widespread despite the continuing forest fragmentation and general decrease in forest cover in the country.  Thankfully, unlike within the boundaries of our sub-continental neighbour to the north, India , human-leopard conflict remains a fairly small, albeit growing problem in Sri Lanka .  There is but a single credible example of the dreaded man-eater, a leopard near Punani, that due to injury preyed on several humans around 1920. 

The causes of the human-leopard conflict are numerous but the most obvious and pervasive is the steady encroachment by humans into former wilderness areas where leopards roam.  This type of encroachment has been ongoing for over a century, since the large scale clearing of forests began at the advent of the plantation era.  Leopards still regularly use agricultural plantation lands such as rubber and tea estates to move between intact forest patches, and it is in these areas where most direct human-leopard conflict occurs.  This type of conflict tends to be accidental, as when a tea plucker startles a leopard amid the tea bushes.  It is a testament to the secretive  and essentially non-confrontational - nature of leopards that these types of incidents are remarkably rare.  We have been keeping records of human-leopard interactions in Sri Lanka over the past few years and have recorded only 3 attacks on people in the past 4 years, all in plantation areas and all appearing to result from leopards being caught by surprise. 

More common is conflict over livestock.  In many parts of the country, predominantly the low country dry zone, herders let their cattle and buffalo roam unhindered in many protected areas and their buffer zones.  These domestic animals, particularly cattle which are evolutionarily naive, make easy prey for leopards putting the big cats in direct conflict with their owners who lose economically from the interaction.  The most common response is for the owner to poison the carcass, as leopards feed on large kills over a number of days and will return numerous times to the same kill.  When this happens, livestock owners tend to end up with dead leopards on their hands, which can then be skinned to make some profit.  We have come across numerous confiscated, inexpertly prepared leopard skins in Sri Lanka that probably originated from this type of encounter.  This is not to say that poachers do not target leopards for their skins and bones, because they do, but so far this seems to be a fairly minor threat although rumours of larger-scale leopard poaching operations persist and need to be investigated.   

Another persistent threat to leopards comes in the form of traps laid for other species.  There have been several recent reports from estate lands in the central hills of leopards being caught in wild boar snares, wire loops that tighten around the body and result in a lengthy and gruesome death.  Even if these traps catch their intended targets they produce negative results for leopards as they are effectively reducing the prey base available and pushing leopards towards a reliance on livestock and dogs, resulting in increased human-leopard conflict.      

When a leopard becomes perceived as a "problem" by authorities a commonly proposed solution is the translocation of the animal.  This appears an attractive way out because it shows the potential to both remove the problem and allow the animal in question to live.  Unfortunately, however, it has been proven time and time again to be ineffective.  First, moving a "problem" animal usually equates to simply moving the problem.  A livestock killer will generally remain a livestock killer in its new environment.  Second, many leopards moved as many as hundreds of kilometers from their home ranges, stubbornly return.  Part of the reason for this is that when they get translocated, they are put into an area already inhabited by leopards.  Leopard social structure is such that incoming animals are not taken lightly and rarely welcomed and it is inherent in this structure that available space for settling is at a premium.  Many translocated leopards are thus promptly killed by resident animals.  Finally, taking one leopard out of an area simply opens that area up for the next animal seeking a place to settle.  In our Hantane study area we know of at least 3 leopards being poached out over the past 3 years, but there never seems to be a lack of leopards in the area, indicating that the replacement rate is high.  A well-balanced study on leopard translocations carried out by Hamilton (1976) in Tsavo shows unequivocally the dismal success rate of rehabilitating "problem" individuals this way.  Current monitoring work in India which is closely following translocated leopards, a practice widely carried out by Indian wildlife and forest officials, is also showing the futility of such actions. 

A final, vital point regarding conflict is the importance of verifying the correct animal.  In Sri Lanka we have found the leopard being blamed for taking pet dogs when the actual culprit, exposed using photographs shown to witnesses, has been a fishing cat.  Furthermore, where there is one leopard there are usually more, so simply seeing, for example, a young male in the area on one occasion, is not enough to assume that it is him preying on your cattle, for it may be his brother, his mother, his father or all of them!   

Humans and leopards can co-exist peacefully, and do so for the most part.  The solution, in as far as there is one, is education and awareness.  It is important for people to be aware both that leopards reside in and around their lands, and how to keep them from becoming a problem.  Locally, livestock owners tend to be resigned to losing some animals to leopards when they graze them inside forest reserves or other protected areas.  Where they have a problem is when leopards come to them and take animals outside these areas.  Leopards generally hunt nocturnally so one practical solution is to keep animals secured overnight (this goes for pets as well).

Leopards are wonderful creatures, stunningly beautiful, mysterious and graceful.  They are important components of Sri Lanka's many flourishing ecosystems, perhaps more important than we currently recognize and they are also a significant part of the social and cultural fabric of the this island, worth preserving in their natural state to the best of our abilities.  Avoiding conflict and working to mitigate it where it does occur is an imperative part of leopard conservation in the country.       

Andrew Kittle is engaged in research on wild felines in Sri Lanka . He is a founding trustee of The Leopard Project, The Wilderness & Wildlife Conservation Trust , Sri Lanka . www.wwct.org .

Human leopard conflict.
Rohan Pethiyagoda writes about a leopard interaction on 09 March from Agarapatana, where a montane forest restoration project is underway. He say 'our resident leopard at Agra killed and ate half a dog (not ours, thankfully) last night, abandoning half the kill in our garden. It is nice to think that just 50 acres of secondary scrub could keep a leopard in food and water after just 10 years of restoration. Tough on the dog, though... Although sightings have been few (2 daytime, 4 or 5 night-time), the leopard routinely leaves tracks and scats in the property, which suggest that it, and a cub/juvenile, are resident there. The scats suggests that macaques and barking deer are an important part of its diet. Last year the leopard attacked and seriously injured a man just outside the restoration site, on Torrington Estate, and the previous year a man collecting firewood on Diyagama Estate, nearby. Both attacks were in daytime and appear to have been caused by a surprised animal, rather than a hungry one. More than a dozen dogs have been taken from the nearby village and the local people are cautious about wandering around alone after dark.'

-Sri Lanka Wildlife News - 07.02.2008