Wildlife Crime Scene Investigation Consultant and Conservationist Ravi Perera remembers, as a child, singing the Hymn for Ceylon and the national anthem every Independence Day while hoisting the Sri Lanka flag on the flagpole in his grandfather’s garden. “That was how much we loved our motherland,” he shared. What is his hope for crisis-ridden Sri Lanka now? “My hope is that we can recover within the next five years, and be better than when we were doing good.”
Perera is a retired Crime Scene Investigator (CSI), a field that was relatively new when he decided to pursue it in the US. “At that time, no one knew what a CSI was; there was no CSI Miami/Las Vegas on TV, and few people had heard about solving crimes with forensics,” he explained. After retirement from law enforcement, where he served as a training officer, he has now dedicated his life to conservation.
After a visit to Africa in 2016, Perera found out that the conviction rate was less than 10% for wildlife crimes. Driven by this knowledge, he offered to teach wildlife forensics to anti-poaching personnel. Together with a few partners, he founded Serendipity Wildlife Foundation, a non-profit organisation registered in the US.
“We then included Sri Lanka as one of the countries we would be active in, and in 2018, trained our first class of hand-picked personnel in wildlife crime scene investigation,” he explains. The team returned the following year to Sri Lanka to conduct an advanced CSI class. Perera has travelled extensively to Asia and Africa to conduct workshops and training on wildlife crime scene investigation. He recently travelled to India and Nepal to see how they could assist certain organisations in wildlife forensics and surveillance.
This week on Write Home About, Perera discusses wildlife conservation, motherland, and the US. Here are some excerpts from the interview.
Tell us about your life in Sri Lanka before you left for the US?
I studied at S. Thomas’ College, and when I was 15 years old left for the US on an American Field Service (AFS) scholarship to Washington State. I graduated from high school in the US, and returned to Sri Lanka, where I joined Air Lanka as a cabin crew member. This gave me the opportunity to travel to many countries and enjoy life. Even while working for Air Lanka, I kept travelling back and forth on vacation to the US, and after a few years, I decided to migrate to the US with my family.
Why did you leave?
I left permanently for the US 34 years ago. Having had godparents from the US that wanted me to come over, and knowing about the American way of life from my young days, the US had always been the country that I wanted to settle down in.
However, it was not an easy decision, and there were several things to consider, which included leaving a house behind, leaving parents behind, and leaving a well-paying job. Terrorism in Sri Lanka had increased, and many residents were in fear of their lives due to attacks by the LTTE on innocent civilians. It was the bombing of the Air Lanka Tri-Star that made my decision easier to leave Sri Lanka.
Was it difficult settling down in a new country?
Since I first arrived in the US at the age of 15 and lived the American high school life, and visited the US frequently on vacation, the transition to living permanently in the US was very easy. There were no surprises, and I realised and knew that life would be different returning as a permanent resident, and not as a student.
I found a job with the Police Department, and enjoyed every minute of it. With my photography experience, it was suggested that I be assigned as the photographer for my patrol shift. Then, I was sent to my first crime scene investigation certification class, and that was the start of my CSI career. At that time, no one knew what CSI was, there was no CSI Miami/Las Vegas on TV, and few people had heard about solving crimes with forensics.
I was lucky to be working for a law enforcement agency that supported crime scene investigation, and sent me for every possible certification. I did my certification in Advanced Crime Scene Investigation twice, as I loved the subjects, and specialised in ballistics and crime scene photography. I was lucky to be selected for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Forensic Academy in Quantico, Virginia, where I had the opportunity to learn and be certified in various specialties.
It was an unforgettable experience. I returned to my home in California and was a CSI instructor, where I was a Training Officer for law enforcement, and also taught crime scene investigation for investigators in the Fire Academy. I was also a teacher; I taught a crime scene investigation class to high school students. I retired early from law enforcement in 2019 after serving 25 years in law enforcement.
How challenging is the work you are doing with Serendipity Wildlife Foundation and Serendipity’Ntravel Safaris, given all that’s happening in SL right now?
I am the Chief Executive Officer of Serendipity Wildlife Foundation (www.csiwildlife.org) and have been very, very involved in fighting wildlife crime. TUSKS (Tactical Universal Surveillance Knowledge-based System) is a unit of our foundation, and intelligence and investigations are conducted internationally, assisting and working with law enforcement agencies and NGOs worldwide.
Our challenge was working during Covid-19, when enforcement and intelligence were declining all over the world, resulting in an increase in wildlife crime. Poaching had increased in bush meat significantly, and several agencies had either eliminated patrols in wildlife areas, or turned a blind eye to criminal activities. TUSKS continued to work, and assist in intelligence activities and trafficking. We never stopped working or slowed down, and worked right through Covid-19.
Our biggest challenge has been funding. All our services are offered free of charge to governments and NGOs, and in the past, we have depended on donations and grants to support us. After Covid-19, funding is almost non-existent, and the large NGOs often grab any available grant money.
My safari company in Kenya, Serendipity’Ntravel Safaris, started in 2014. I own three safari vehicles, which are driven by my experienced and licensed driver-guides. We only operate in Kenya, where we provide customised safaris at affordable prices to our guests. I believe in customer service and guest satisfaction, and that is the reason we never advertise, and increase our clientele by recommendations from those that have been with us.
What are your comments about what’s transpiring in SL right now?
Things are changing in Sri Lanka so fast that by the time you receive my reply, things would have taken a different turn. I visited Sri Lanka during the protests, and was amazed at the number of people that turned against those that had done them wrong, and basically raped the country. I always wonder if my land of birth will ever be the same again.
Race relations are something that is talked about often, especially in the context of people who migrate to live in other countries. What has your experience been like in the US? How have you overcome any racial discrimination you have faced personally?
I never experienced any racial discrimination when I first visited the US and lived in Washington State. However, when I returned later to California, I did observe negligible incidents.
I remember introducing myself to coworkers when I was new to my job. There was one officer who refused to shake hands with me and said: “I do not shake hands with foreigners.” One day, this officer wanted me to check his report for errors, which is a common practice at work, where coworkers would be asked to check one’s writing before it was submitted to their supervisor. I found errors in the report and was thanked by him. He said: “Aaah… you do know English.” Later, he and I became good friends, and he commended me for several jobs well done.
What advice would you give to new immigrants trying to settle down in the US, when it comes to navigating discrimination of any form, establishing themselves, and building a life there?
Many, many people think that there is a pot of gold awaiting them when they arrive, and that it is the land of opportunity. There is no gold pot on arrival, and individuals or families have to work hard to start from scratch. There are many that have been successful in this effort, and there are others that have stayed stagnant.
What is your message to the Sri Lankan people right now?
The Sri Lankan people have already received the message, and need no other message.
(Jennifer Anandanayagam is a journalist and editor with over 15 years of experience in Sri Lanka’s print and digital media landscape. She is also a freelance contributor with the SaltWire Network in Canada. She spends her time between both countries)