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Author Topic: Search for Sri Lanka’s biggest tusker is launched  (Read 12498 times)
indunil
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« Reply #6 on: May 19, 2011, 05:18:32 am »

Is Walawe Raja officially MIAPD?

There have been numerous inquiries through Sri Lanka Elephant Web Page (http://www.srilankaelephant.com) and the Sri Lanka Elephant Facebook group (http://www.facebook.com/SriLankaElephant), as well as from other sources, as to whether there has been any further news about ‘Walawe Raja’, since we called a halt to the “Find Raja Project” in January this year.

Readers will recall that the idea to launch a search for this elephant in and around the Uda Walawe National Park (UWNP) came about due to the fact that he did not make his customary appearance at UWNP during May, June and July last year.

Between late October 2010 and January 2011 we made over 20 excursions just outside of the North Eastern areas of the park, tracking down leads of possible sightings. All in all it was quite an interesting exercise, although unsuccessful. We were able to educate and talk to over 100 villagers, and thanks to the media support from the Sunday Times, managed to create considerable interest and awareness among the general public. We were able to carry out the logistics due to generous support from a few donors (who wished to remain anonymous), as well as technical support from Dialog Axiata Pvt. Ltd.

So what really could have happened to Raja? Hope is certainly receding now, as there have not been even any tentative sightings of him to-date. So there could be three scenarios that one can think of.

The first, optimistic possibility is that he is still alive, but due to his weakened physical condition (due to the injury on his trunk), he has not come to musth (musth is a cyclic sexual phenomena which manifests itself in mature, healthy male elephants). Hence, his desire to come into the park (which was to seek out receptive females) would not be such a priority now. So possibly he is biding his time somewhere in a secluded place until he regains full health.

The second more pessimistic option would be that ‘Raja’ has succumbed to his injuries and died. When elephants are suffering from serious injuries, they usually linger around a secluded area where there is water and food.

This is the reason why most often, carcasses and bones of dead elephants are found in remote secluded areas, giving rise to the myth of elephant graveyards. So possibly the great Walawe Raja’s bones could be in some uninhabited area, as his remains slowly decay back into the soil. This could possibly then answer the question as to why, if he has died, no one seems to have seen the carcass. In fact if some villagers had stumbled accross his carcass, there would have been some information that would percolate out, since his tusks would have attracted a lot of attention, unless of course they have been furtively removed by someone.

The last and third possibility is based on some observations made on musth elephants and their ranging behaviour in India. Apparently as the elephant grows old, even though he is in musth, he could face strong competition from other bulls in ‘musth’ or even bulls who are not in musth.

Hence, due to his weakened physical strength he can begin to change his home range to an area where there is less competition. This could bear some logic, as UWNP has two other mature tuskers; (‘Sumedha’ and ‘Kalthota Raja’) who up until now, still could not pose a threat to ‘Raja’ , and have been patiently ‘waiting in the aisles’ for their chance to dominate. There are many well documented sightings of how these two tuskers, both in prime condition, beat a hasty retreat when Raja appears on the scene.

In addition, UWNP has several other mature bulls in prime condition, who come to musth periodically and who could give a weaker bull in musth, (even though he is senior in the hierarchy) a good ride for his money.

To follow up on this last hypothesis, one will have to assess what could be an alternate home range for an ageing ‘Raja’ in poor health. To satisfy his natural instincts, such a home range should include a reasonable amount of herds with adequate females, and a lesser number of mature bulls. The only such area that could meet these requirements would possibly be the Lunugamwehera National Park (LNP). There is well established corridor between UWNP and LNP along which ‘Raja’ could have perhaps moved along.

However, there have been no recorded sightings of such an elephant with the characteristics of ‘Raja’ from the Lunugamwehera area, but on the other hand unlike in the UWNP North Eastern area, villagers have not been made aware nor sensitized about the search for such an elephant.

As one last resort we hope to undertake one or two ‘reccés’ in Lunugamwehera and to do some preliminary investigations and inquiries, armed with our ‘Raja’ identity – kit photographs.

Until then of course there is nothing much that one can do. The forthcoming months of June, July and August will be crucial, to observe whether, by some remote chance ‘Walawe Raja’ does turn up, back at UWNP according to his schedule.

Until then I am afraid ‘Walawe Raja’ is MIAPD (Missing In Action, Presumed Dead).

Sunday Times Report
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« Reply #5 on: January 27, 2011, 04:55:08 pm »

Road to Raja opens other doors-Sunday Times
The initial idea for this endeavour came to me in September last year, when I was talking to my one-time colleague, and now elephant researcher in his own right, Ashoka Rajeeva, about elephants and the Uda Walawe park (one of our favourite topics! ). Ashoka mentioned in passing, that we had not sighted ‘Walawe Raja’ that year (2010).

Now, for those who yet may not be aware, “Walawe Raja” is a majestic tusker in the prime of his life, who frequents the Uda Walawe National Park (UWNP) usually during the drought period, (July to October each year), when he appears suddenly to spend about 2-3 months in the park. Often he is in musth, and spends his time searching out receptive females in herds. No one really knows where he disappears to the rest of the time.

Over the years, one of his tusks had been damaged, and he is thus now easily identifiable. He was the star of a film shot for the BBC/Discovery by Mike Birkhead and Toby Sinclair in early 2000, titled ‘The Last Tusker’.

Raja’s popularity had grown over the years. His majesty is not only due to his physique (although he is heavily built, he carries many scars and bullet wounds), nor his tusks (which are reasonably big, but with one broken one now, does not beat any records) – unlike the late and great Parakrama-the Siyabalanduwa tusker ( who had the most perfect physique, and beautiful long tusks) who met with an untimely death recently.

Raja is majestic because of his regal demeanour. He was the ‘King of Uda Walawe’ and he clearly knew it, and behaved as such. There are hardly any reports of any altercations with him and visitors on record. He considered visitors and their jeeps unworthy of his time, and often cast only a disdainful glance at the ‘intruders’.

Hence it was worrying that he had not made his appearance in 2010. Inquiries from UWNP and DWLC officials, and trackers also elicited the same concern. So my son Dimitri and I decided that ‘someone needed to do something’ about this. We began the ‘Find Raja’ project knowing we were taking on an almost impossible task, much like looking for a needle (albeit a very large one in the shape of Raja ) in a haystack, not really knowing what the elephant’s normal home range was.

Identifying the initial study area
The area north-east/ north -west of the UWNP is surrounded by village hamlets and dense forests. It is presumed that Raja’s home range extends to this area because he is always sighted for the first time during his periodic visits, in this area, which leads many to believe that he uses these ‘corridors’ to move in and out of the park. Research has indicated that home ranges for Sri Lankan male elephants can be in the order of 100-200 sq km ( Fernando. P; Wickramanayake.E ; et al 2007). However, it must be borne in mind that home range fidelity is dependent on varied factors such weather, food resources, and most importantly in this case, sexual condition. ( Raja is a fully grown male in the prime of his life and regularly comes into musth). Hence there is a fair amount of ‘guest-imation’ in deciding on the study area.

The methodology and plan
The plan was to traverse the outer boundary of the north-east/north and north-western park, and talk to as many villagers as possible, showing them photo identity kits of Raja to see if there were recent sightings. They were also given a card (M/s Mercury Print from Ratmalana printed them free) with our hotline so that they could ring up if they had any sightings.

Thanks to some generous donors, I set up a small team at Uda Walawe. A young undergraduate from the area Udaya Sameera, and my old friend who worked with me earlier Kapila, formed the core field team, with Ashoka and Dimitri providing additional expertise. Nishantha, from Grizzly Safaris Uda Walawe, provided the transport, with his trusty World War 11 vintage jeep, which could take on many a terrain that the more modern 4- wheel drives would ‘fear to tread’.

Hans Wijayasuriya, CEO of Dialog offered to help with the IT and connectivity from base camp, which was most welcome, and we were ready to roll in November.

The objectives we set ourselves were-
To undertake a quick search and investigation in the surrounding regions of the north eastern and north western side of UWNP, to try and ascertain whether there have been any recent sightings of Raja, and thereby try to locate him.
The progress of the work to be publicized and highlighted on an on-going basis. In doing so we hoped that more focus and attention will be on the plight of wild elephants in Sri Lanka and the urgent need to take some cohesive action immediately to halt their deaths in the wild.
The expected outcomes were-

-Find Raja ‘hale and hearty’ ( best outcome)
-Find Raja injured ( launch rescue mission with the DWLC)
-Find Raja dead ( worst outcome)
-Not find any trace of Raja, dead or alive ( at least we tried)
-Raja suddenly turns up in the park ( Hurray! )
-As it is, at the closure of the project in end December, we had not found Raja. While I am sad and possibly fear the worst for Raja, I am still happy that I was able to achieve the second objective to a great extent.

Peripheral achievements
With the Sunday Times supporting the project and running a column each Sunday, it generated much interest among the public in general. Dimitri’s IT knowledge was utilized to set up our blog (http://findraja.srilankaelephant.com) and related facebook group which surpassed all our expectations. It was my first ever experience with ‘blogging’ and updating a facebook group, and I was simply astonished at the power of these social networking mechanisms. We have a list of ardent followers, and today, the site seems to have grown and expanded in its scope, and is now a central ‘gathering’ point for the dissemination and comments on the state of Sri Lankan elephants.

So on the second count; I think we have done pretty well. We are now in fact considering ways and means of keeping the blog alive, although the Raja project has drawn to a close.

On the ground, we were able to talk to, and sensitize some 150 villagers in the area about elephants and the need to somehow prevent calamity befalling them. During the initial stages we were often met with good-humoured curiosity, as the ‘crazy city dwellers driving around in the hot sun looking for an elephant’. But as time went by, they appreciated our efforts and supported us, judging by the number of hotline calls we received of tusker sightings. Very few were hoaxes, though we had to sift through typical Sri Lankan over-enthusiasm (all in good faith of course), to sometimes arrive at the correct picture.
If we had gone by all our ‘reports’ we would have recorded some 5-6 Rajas, and another 10 – 12 tuskers in the area, some with 6 foot long tusks!!!

But there was no doubt that there have been at least two reasonably accurate sightings of what could be Raja, in the Rathanagama/Hambegamuwa ( north-east) areas. But the issue was that they were old sightings (more than six weeks old at that time). No sightings have been reported of late.

We also concluded that there seems to be at least two more adult tuskers in the Kalthota range, who can be sometimes sighted from the foothills below. (We hope to mount an excursion as soon as the rains cease to further investigate this.)

Our hotline will be kept open for a month or two more, just in case we hear of something. Even today we still have a few villagers who call us and inquire as to whether we have found Raja.

So the ‘crazy city dwellers’ may have in some way helped some of these villagers to think of elephants in a different way.

Unexpected situations
We spent two and a half months looking for a live elephant, but saw more dead elephants. To see these once gentle giants, lying spread-eagled and bloated, stiff in rigor mortis, with maggots crawling all over them, or burning slowly at a way side cremation, was heart wrenching.

We also came into contact with the on-going protests against the newly proposed elephant corridor at Dahagala. Scientists and the DWLC believe that this corridor is essential to allow for the movement of elephants in the area, and the Supreme Court has ruled that the fence must be installed.

But there is a well-organized protest campaign by certain local leaders, blocking the erecting of this fence. The grapevine has it that opening of this route for elephants will disrupt some of the nefarious activities that are being conducted in the area. In any other country this will be tantamount to contempt of court, but then…this is Sri Lanka. Our team beat a hasty retreat from the area, as we did not want to be embroiled in this controversy.

The Uda Walawe National Park
Today the UWNP has grown in popularity, both amongst Sri Lankans and tourists, and is without doubt, the easiest and most convenient location in Sri Lanka to view wild elephants all year around. During the time I was conducting my field study (2003) under the auspices of the US Fish& Wild Life Services at UWNP, I concluded that the park had a population of some 300 -350 elephants. However emerging research ( Silva.S.& Ranjeeva.A 2007 ongoing) indicates that there could be up to 800 elephants in UWNP. Of course, a good proportion could be transient ‘visitors’ who use the northern “corridors” to move out of the Park periodically.

Visitors are guaranteed of good sightings at any time of the year. In fact today, there many elephants who have learnt to solicit food from passers-by by staying at the electric fence along the Thanamalwila road. So one does not even have to go into the park to see elephants at Uda Walawe! I noticed this phenomenon in early 2000 when it was only‘ Rambo’ who frequented the fence, and wrote about it, warning of the possible dangers of this activity.

Today, Rambo is still there, but he has a host of other companions, sometimes numbering up to twenty!

The park boasted of four adult tuskers- Raja, Sumedha, Asoka and the Kalthota tusker, all non-resident. Of this foursome, Asoka met with a very suspicious death with gunshot injuries inside the park a few years ago. With the Kalthota tusker’s visits becoming infrequent, it was thus only Raja and Sumedha dominating the park.

Up until last year when Raja went missing, Sumedha’s movements were limited, as he always played second fiddle to Raja, although he is also a well-built mature tusker.

It may be my imagination, but of late Sumedha has been seen quite frequently in the park. Like Raja he visits the park when he is in musth. Now clearly in post-musth, he is still around in the park. Could it be that he senses Raja’s absence, and feels more confident that he is the new King of UWNP?

UWNP has a reasonably well balanced healthy population of elephants. The park does not have any major problems due to encroachment or poaching. If adequate and careful park management and habitat improvement is undertaken, then, while we see the gradual demise of the wild elephants in other parts of the country due to the serious human elephant conflict, UWNP could be Sri Lanka’s future ‘last bastion’ of the Sri Lanka elephant.

This was epitomized by a unique and most wonderful sighting at UWNP just a few days ago, as a mother emerged from the bushes with her newly born calf( less than two weeks old) to calmly walk across the road in front of us, with complete trust. A truly memorable moment, to be cherished for a long time.

Conclusion
At the end of the day, the ‘bottom line’ is that we did not find Walawe Raja. We are not sure what fate has befallen him. But I am happy that despite the constraints, we ‘got out of our armchairs,’ and tried.
Was all the effort worth it, for one single elephant?

Yes….an emphatic Yes! Raja is an icon, a flagship. By focussing attention on him, I think we have been able to generate interest and understanding about the plight that has befallen Sri Lankan elephants.
I still hope and pray, that one day, as I drive around in the UWNP, and turn a corner, that I will be greeted by the once familiar lumbering shape of Raja, as he nonchalantly walks up to my vehicle, as he has done many times before.


Srilal Miththapala looks back at the ‘Find Raja’ project
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« Reply #4 on: December 02, 2010, 02:59:44 pm »

No Raja…but there’s Sumedha..!”   - Sunday Times
         
Srilal Miththapala writes of the continuing search for the Uda Walawe Park’s elusive tusker               
This week was a quiet one. The proposed, concerted effort to launch a series of field investigations in the area where we had received several reports of sightings of a tusker who fitted Raja’s description, did not materialize.               
               
Firstly Dr. Vijitha Perera, Wildlife Veterinarian, Department of Wildlife Conservation, who was to give us some guidance was called to Colombo for some urgent meetings and then dispatched to Giritale for a few days. So he was not in UWNP the whole of last week.               
               
Secondly heavy rains hampered our travel even within the park itself. So we postponed our activities for next week. As indicated last week, we believe the main focus of our search should now be in the north-eastern side, just outside the park boundary, where there are many reports of elephant sightings, as well as of a mature tusker with a short tusk. This includes the village hamlets of Gomagala and Rathabalagama in the Hambegamuwa area.               
               
In the meantime we continue to sight Sumedha, the ‘No 2 ‘ tusker of the park, within the park. It has been recorded that Sumedha also comes into the park when he comes into musth, which seems to be slightly later than Raja’s cycle. While there have been many occasions before, where both of them have been sighted in the park together, the ‘pecking order’ is obvious. Sumedha takes flight whenever Raja arrives on the scene, and is always submissive in Raja’s presence, although he is a mature tusker himself in prime condition, albeit a few years Raja’s junior. So this year it seems rather odd to see Sumeda, now clearly in post musth, still around in the park.               
               
Could it be that he senses the absence of Raja, and now feels more confident that he is the King of UWNP? All details of work done so far, with reports, video clips, pictures and maps can be found on our blog http://findraja.srilankaelephant.com/blog/. (Read extracts of Dr Vijitha Perera’s forthcoming book entitled ’10 years with Wild Elephants’ where he devotes a full chapter to Raja on our blog)               
               
Post script: A few hours after I penned this report, I heard of the tragic death of the tusker that was being translocated by the DWLC. In spite of repeated calls from renowned elephant scientists such as Dr. Preethiviraj Fernando and Dr. Devaka Weerakoon that translocation is not a solution to the human elephant conflict, the DWLC continues this short sighted ‘quick fix’ solution.               
               
With inadequately trained personnel, and poor resources, translocation of such large animals are fraught with danger…and in this case resulted in a gruesome death of one of the already rapidly dwindling tuskers in Sri Lanka.               
               
It breaks my heart and shatters my spirit. While a few of us, with meagre resources and funds, are trying desperately to locate another magnificent tusker, Walawe Raja, is this how the DWLC is protecting these animals?   

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« Reply #3 on: December 02, 2010, 02:54:32 pm »


Joining in the search for Walwe Raja ...!!! (Sunday Times)

The Sunday Times has joined in the search for ‘Walwe Raja’ the iconic tusker whose non-appearance in the Uda Walawe Park this year has caused wildlife lovers great concern.Here Srilala Miththapala, the conservationist behind the  ‘Find Raja’ project reports on his field trip of November  4th/5th as the team continues the search

The field trip was a gruelling, exhausting, productive, frustrating and eventful ..all rolled up in one !!!
The main objective of the trip was to meet up with senior ranger of the Department of Wild life Conservation ( DWLC) who has reportedly heard about Raja. This was told to me by the park warden, Prasantha.  So Dimitri and I decided to make the trip, to check this fairly reliable lead ourselves. 
We arrived at base camp at Uda Walaww (UW)and climbed into our World War II vintage Defender, with the pint sized, but very experienced driver Kapila at the wheel, and set off eastwards along the main Thanamalwilla road towards the Mau-ara  DWLC ‘beat’ office, where the ranger was waiting for us. We reached the turn off, and drove northwards into the park and collected Gunawardene, our guide for the day. He has had over 30 years’ experience in the Department, serving about 10 years in the Kalthota area ( north of UW).  Like all experienced DWLC rangers he had many a story to tell, and kept us entertained right throughout the trip!


Since we had a DWLC official on board now, we were able to cut thro’ the UWNP, instead of going all the way around the eastern boundary.  (see map below).  We had to ‘open’ up the electric fence ( by removing the removable  insulated link of the fence) and get into the park. We travelled along the Mau-ara road and as we reached the park main road, and lo and behold, we were confronted with some 30 odd  elephants crossing the road.  It was obviously about three herds who were together with about 5 juveniles.

We had to reluctantly move on, since watching elephants inside the park was not our primary aim today. We travelled towards Pokunutenna, and passed the new bungalow that had been built there. It seemed a bit out of the way, and long distance from the entrance.  A little further, just at the border of the park boundary we came across a sad sight. It was a month-old carcass of a dead mature elephant   lying on its side.  Gunawardene  told us that it had died after gunshot injuries sustained outside the park.


We once again ‘opened up’ the wire fence at the Pokunutenne  ‘gate ‘ and  moved out of the UWNP and drove along the narrow bund.  We got on to the road coming from Hambegamuwa and passed Aluthwewe  and proceeded northwards to Medabedda, which was close to Gunarwardene’s home, where he had heard of a tusker sighting. We spent a long while talking to the villagers in the area who were quite adamant that some elephants were habituating the area along with a tusker. We also visited the Kalthota DWLC office, and heard more about elephants in the Weli-oya area with confident reports of two tuskers in the vicinity. The villagers wanted us to come and stay a night to try and spot the elephants.
We bought ourselves some rice and curry packets at a wayside boutique, and started off on our second leg of the journey to Handagiriya.  By no  a thunderstorm had developed and the going was tough, compounded by the fact that the trusty old Defender had an apology for a set of wipers, and a tarpaulin cover that unloaded buckets of accumulated rainwater from  the hood, each time the vehicle braked! So it was a soggy and rather motley crew that finally reached the Handagiriya DWLC office around 1.30 pm. The senior ranger, Kaluaarachchi,  was very happy to see us and in spite of the heavy rain, we decided to go into the park with him. It brightened our spirits because this was an area usually inaccessible to visitors, and it would be nice to see the north side of the park.



Kaluaarachchi however warned us about the roads and culverts - he was not sure as to what condition some areas would be in, given the heavy rain. The terrain was different, with the range of hills we normally see in the far horizon from the other side of the park, now very much closer. We could clearly see the Samanala -wewa power station penstock and the Diyawinni falls.

Very soon we saw our first elephant. It was interesting to note that they seemed to be very wary of us.  Another herd we came across retreated into the bushes, while one individual charged at us without any warning whatsoever. It was very interesting to note this type of behaviour, which reminded me of the elephants in the UWNP in the late 1980’s. They were not acclimatized to humans and jeeps back then, and I recall it was always two options…’flight’  or ‘fight’! Today however, a whole new generation of elephants have grown up within the park, and are much more tolerant to visitors. So we wondered whether these elephants on the northern side of the park, therefore maybe living more permanently in the region, judging by their behaviour towards us.

A while later we  came across  another carcass of a dead elephant again from gunshot injuries.
Then came the excitement.  A rather large and steep culvert had to be negotiated to get across.  Everyone was keen to give it a try, although it looked a tall order. So we all alighted form the jeep,  and Kapila started off slowly negotiating the steep incline on very low gear. Just when we thought he had made it across, the wheels spun and he went into a skid, and very soon was well and truly bogged down in the mud. No amount of revving on the 4 wheel drive, could budge the vehicle in the slimy mud. So it was all ‘shoulders to the wheel’, literary speaking, as we pushed the jeep, slipping and sliding all over.
With a lot of effort we finally managed to get two wheels to grip, and the jeep growled over onto firmer terrain. Soaked in rain and caked in mud, we got back but, alas could not proceed much further as the second culvert was much more ‘deadly’ than the first. So we decided to give up, and  reluctantly and turned around and returned. The negotiation of culvert no 1 on the return was less eventful, although we did get bogged down again, but with much less complications this time.
We reached back to the office around 3 pm, and managed to wash some of the mud away, and dug into lunch packets…..and boy oh boy! …didn’t those simple village lunch packets taste good? Under the shade of a tree, to our  famished and  tired team, it tasted better than any 5 star hotel meal!!


We rested for a while, and set off back again on the long journey back. We decided to take another route along a narrow bund, passing some spectacular scenery and soon arrived at the Pokunutenne entrance.  We drove back along the main road of the park eager to get back to base camp soon.
But as always, UWNP never fails to deliver. By the side of the main road, we saw a herd with juveniles mud bathing and having a good time after the heavy rains. We watched their antics, as one elephant  rolled over another, in blissful happiness. We marvelled at what we were seeing, and were thankful that we were a part of it.  Even the ‘ battle-hardened’ Gunawardene, who has possibly had ‘seen it all’, was also in awe

Again we reluctantly wrenched ourselves away from the wonderful scene, and in the fast receding light drove back via Mau-Ara , dropping off Gunawardene.  A hot water bath, cool beer, and a scrumptious Chinese cuisine at Kinjou Safari Village brought the wonderful day to a close.

However the frustrating part of the trip was the total breakdown of the  communication system. Although Dr. Hans Wijesuriya, CEO, and Viranga Seniviratne of Dialog  tried their best, we had very poor coverage in the northern side where we travelled. Quite apart from uploading stuff via the wireless modems given to us free by Dialog, we were even unable to make voice contact with base camp- a serious problem which will warrant total re-thinking of our entire IT/communication strategy.
Look out for more on the search for Raja as the week unfolds…

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« Reply #2 on: November 14, 2010, 10:10:08 am »



Last time I saw him was in 2008.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/namalk/2773483641/in/set-72157624994817222/
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« Reply #1 on: November 14, 2010, 09:42:53 am »

The search for ‘Raja’ - Sunday Times Report

The search for ‘Walawe Raja’ has begun. When the iconic tusker who frequents the UdaWalawe National Park (UWNP) and is usually sighted from around June to September every year did not appear this year, wildlife lovers were alarmed, wondering what had befallen him. Srilal and Dimitri Miththapala, father and son, both avid wildlife enthusiasts have now begin the search for the elephant.
Srilal wrote about Raja’s non- appearance in the Sunday Times of September 12 and again on October 10. He has now launched a project to find Raja, with the help of well- wishers from abroad who sponsored some of the expenses, and Dialog Telecom, who have supported the IT/communication part.

A majestic tusker in the prime of its life, ‘Walawe Raja’ was the star of a BBC/Discovery film shot by Mike Birkhead and Toby Sinclair in early 2000, entitled ‘The Last Tusker’. Frequenting the UWNP annually, Raja usually spends about 3-4 months in the park and in all probability, wanders out of the northern side of the park towards Balangoda and Hambegamuwa regions the rest of the time.
Raja has been carrying an injury on his trunk and has not appeared in the park for the whole of this year, which has caused concern to many.

The project, which will run until end November, hopes to achieve the following objectives-

To undertake a quick search and investigation in the surrounding regions of the north eastern and north western side of UWNP to try and ascertain whether there have been any recent sightings of Raja and thereby locate him.
The progress of the work will be highlighted on an ongoing basis to focus attention on the plight of wild elephants in Sri Lanka today, and the urgent need to take some cohesive action immediately to halt the demise of these animals in the wild.

The project team, consisting of Srilal and Dimitri, and enthusiastic youngsters Kapila and Sameera from UdaWalawe have already carried out three intensive field trips around the outer periphery of the park, asking villagers whether they have seen Raja. They are armed with a photo identi- kit of Raja , and give out a ‘find Raja card’ with a hotline number (courtesy of Dialog) on which anyone can call the team if a sighting has been made. (the reverse of the card is in Sinhalese)

Many sightings of elephants been reported and very often, villagers complain about elephants raiding their fields in the night.

More interestingly, there are quite a few reported sightings of tuskers in the area. According to Srilal there were originally only four mature tuskers at UWNP ( all non-resident ) i.e. Raja, Ashoka, Sumedha and Kalthota. Ashoka met an untimely death about a year ago.

He was found dead inside the park, with bullet wounds. The circumstances were dubious and no one really knows to this day what happened.

The project team will also follow up leads on other tusker sightings, of the elephants who perhaps do not come into the park, and spend their time in these outside areas.

There have been three reported sightings of Raja which cannot be verified as yet, as shown in the map below.

The team will be continuing its investigative search especially in the areas where there are supposed sightings.

Comments and feedback are welcome. See the Sunday Times Plus and www. sundaytimes.lk as the search continues.

Sunday Time paper cutting

More Info
http://findraja.srilankaelephant.com/
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« on: October 19, 2010, 09:55:04 am »



The Uda Walawe National Park
The Uda Walawe National Park (UWNP), situated in the south eastern region on Sri Lanka, encompasses an area of 30,812 hectares, and was declared as a National Park in June 1972. Over time the elephant population grew into a stable and healthy one which was estimated to be around 400 individuals in the early days. However more recent research indicates that there could be up to 1000 elephants in UWNP. Of course, a good proportion of these numbers could be transient ‘visitors' who use the northern "corridors" to move out of the Park periodically. So today UWNP has grown in popularity, both amongst Sri Lankans and tourists, and is without doubt the easiest and most convenient location in Sri Lanka to view wild elephants all year around.


The ICON of UWNP
"Walawe Raja", is a majestic tusker in the prime of his life, who frequents the park annually. Raja is usually sighted during the drought period, from around June to September each year, when he appears suddenly, to spend about 3-4 months in the park. Often he is in musth, and spends most of his time searching out receptive females in herds. During the remaining part of the year no one really knows where he disappears to. In all probability, he wanders out of the northern side of the park towards Balangoda and Hambegamuwa regions.

He was the star of a film shot by the BBC/Discovery by Mike Birkhead and Toby Sinclair in early 2000, entitled ‘The Last Tusker'.

Not seen in 2010
However, there is a growing concern that Raja has not been sighted so far this year. This fear is compounded by the fact that when he was last sighted, he was carrying a bad wound on his trunk, which has developed into tear. He was finding it difficult to drink water, due to the water leaking out of the perforated trunk. The veterinary team at UWNP had been treating him for a while.

This is not the first time that Raja has been injured. On several earlier occasions, he was sighted in the park carrying wounds possibly from gunshot injuries received during his periodic sojourns outside the park. However, always the park veterinary surgeons have been able to treat him, and there was some jocular talk among the trackers that Raja comes back into the park to get his injuries attended to!

But this time the injury is much more serious in nature, and there is now mounting concern that something has happened to this ICON of UWNP. No one seems to know, and a few elephant enthusiasts and avid ‘Raja' fans, now hope to undertake a quick basic search to try and ascertain what has happened to Walawe Raja.

Wildlife Extra Report
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