The Night Watch

Palgedara Herata Banda is a farmer who works in an onion farm during the night in Sigirya, Sri Lanka. His job is to chase away wild elephants which come in the night to destroy the crops. The techniques this 5 foot tall farmer uses to get rid of wild elephants are yelling at them, and sometimes he uses firecrackers. The only protection he has while doing his night watch is a a tiny vulnerable 2 meter by 1.5 meter hut at the bottom of the tree where he stays overnight. Sri Lanka Ministry of Wildlife has recorded a total death of 252 wild elephants and 66 humans in 2012 alone due to Human-elephant conflicts(HEC). The total crops damaged by these wild elephants is estimated to be about $10,000,000 each year. HEC has defined the relationship between humans and wild elephants because both are competing for the same resource; land. Today the relation between humans and elephants is a paradox, because in one hand Asian elephant is a culture icon as well as a religious symbol by both hindus and buddhist, but in the other hand this elephant is this rage that comes in the night and destroys everything that is pressure to the farmers, including their life. It's confusing in the sense that the elephant is to be worshipped by the people but they are also being treated like an enemy.