Private electric fences: A novel and effective approach to preventing elephant depredation

Abstract

Increasing human-elephant conflict (HEC) has been attributed to the rising human population, their needs including agriculture, and the fragmentation and reduction of forest cover (Fernando et al. 2011). Nineteen administrative districts out of 25 in Sri Lanka have reported HEC (Prakash et al. 2020). During 2010 to 2019, a total of 14,516 incidents of HEC have been reported in Sri Lanka including the death of 807 people, injuries to 579 people, 10,532 incidents of property damage and 2,631elephants deaths (Prakash et al. 2020). HEC mitigation attempts by the state include distributing elephant thunder flashes (large firecrackers), capture and translocation, elephant drives, erecting electric fences and paying compensation (Prakash et al. 2020). Electric fences are one of the most effective methods for mitigating HEC (Fernando et al. 2008). However, in Sri Lanka they have been mostly erected around protected areas of the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) restricting elephant movements (Fernando & Leimgruber 2011). In addition to the impossibility of restricting elephants to protected areas using electric fences, some elephants whose movements are obstructed by electric fences may search for new locations and thereby electric fences could even aggravate HEC (Gunaratne & Premarathne 2005). Wild elephants occur on both sides of many of the electric fences that have been constructed by the DWC, hence do not prevent elephant depredation (Fernando et al. 2008). Because the fences are constructed by the DWC, people have no sense of ownership of the fences and do little to maintain them and many such fences © 2023 The Authors – Open Access Short Communication Gajah 56 (2023) 36-39 Private Electric Fences: A Novel and Effective Approach to Preventing Elephant Depredation G. D. Kurukula Samaranayake, H. M. Heshanthi Herath*, T. S. Kumara Piyadasa and Ashoka Dangolla Department of Veterinary Clinical Science, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka *Corresponding author's e-mail: [email protected] 36 become dysfunctional after a few years (Fernando 2020). Many of the weaknesses in the current approach to electric fences as a HEC mitigation measure could be remedied if electric fences were erected around human dwellings (Fernando 2020) and especially if individuals had full ownership of them. Here we present the results of 60 electric fences erected around private properties of villagers frequently affected with HEC.