We request Immediate Executive Action in Yala, to protect Sri Lanka's natural heritage.

There have been many unnatural animal deaths inside Yala National Park and its borders. Conservationists confirm the 4th known leopard death by Hit-&-Run vehicle inside Block 1, most likely caused by speeding vehicle.  A breakdown in administration has resulted in an understaffed, badly managed Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) while its rangers and trackers are lacking resources, training and respect on the ground.  This has led to 600+ jeeps entering the national wildlife park on any given day, unmanned and unsupervised.  The tourism industry, by facilitating quick-stopover wildlife tourism that involves sub-contracted jeeps speeding through protected areas; seem focused only on the leopard chase. By 'green-washing' their eco-tourism model, Big Business manages to escape accountability and sub-contract their responsibility on the ground to irresponsible local drivers with no permits or education on the conservation of wildlife.

Poor zoning and electric fencing installed by DWC to ineffectively prevent human-elephant conflict have led to starvation deaths of many elephants.

Poachers are protected by local politicians, while wild boar and deer are hunted indiscriminately for bush meat purposes, suffering for hours after being caught by wire snares. Leopards are killed, both accidentally and for their skins, and elephants killed for their tusks, either for local remedies or to reach international animal traffickers.

The result is that one of Sri Lanka's largest and most spectacular parks is in crisis, and many animals face either extinction or extended suffering, because of Sri Lanka's ineffective, practically non-existent national policy on wildlife conservation. 

Many years ago, Sri Lanka made a decision to protect our natural heritage. Yala National Park is one of our greatest wilderness areas, rich in tropical flora, inexplicably diverse fauna and with significant archaeology reflective of our island’s historical value. Today, Yala remains all those things, but the callous imprint of man’s greed and misguided goodwill also define it. The problems are numerous and the solutions are complex, yet achievable.  Tourism may be a necessary income generator but it would be so much better to live in a country where we could honour our natural heritage and work from that point down to responsible wildlife tourism.

 We have an opportunity here, because on 8th January, the Sri Lankan people stood together for better governance and positive change. We have a new leadership who promised to bring in that change. President Maithripala Sirisena is the Minister of the Environment, while the Ministry of Wildlife & Sustainable Development come under the supervision and executive management of the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his appointees. We join many voices as we ask our leaders to work together in these muddy waters and stand by our national parks and wildlife. All-encompassing immediate action is ambitious but as our expert opinions submit, Sri Lanka’s wildlife have for too long, paid the price for our corrupted, short-sighted, national policy on conservation, or lack thereof.