Perahera season a good time to reflect on the condition of elephants

Earlier this month the Thai government airlifted a 29-year-old elephant it had gifted in 2001 to Sri Lanka. Sak Surin was gifted by the Thai royal family to the Government of Sri Lanka and was renamed Muthu Raja. After years of mistreatment and physical abuse Muthu Raja needed to be rescued from a Buddhist temple and placed under the care of the national zoo, prior to being airlifted to Thailand. 

Several local animal rights activists and non-governmental organisations had attempted to raise awareness of the situation of Muthu Raja with the Sri Lankan authorities. Having failed in this endeavour they lobbied the Thai government to take back their ‘gifted’ elephant. Despite last minute diplomatic efforts to prevent this move, the Thai authorities were keen to take back the animal due to overwhelming public pressure. The whole episode is a wake-up call to the dire plight of domesticated elephants in the country.

As the month-long perahera in Kandy begins it is opportune to discuss the necessity to ensure the health and wellbeing of the elephants used in this most important cultural pageant. A few years ago, the organisers of the perahera were forced to withdraw an aging elephant called Tikiri after images of the emaciated animal stirred outrage and anger online. The 70-year-old Tikiri died a few days after but reminded of the exploitation of domesticated elephants during the perahera with little regard for the animals’ wellbeing.

The number of domesticated elephants had dwindled to a little more than 100 in recent years. This has increased the pressure on those few elephants to participate at a greater number of peraheras around the island. These elephants are transported throughout the country in unsafe vehicles, which are not designed to carry the large pachyderms, causing injuries and even death. It is not only during these religious festivals that the domesticated elephants are abused. They are used for tourism purposes under extremely cruel conditions, forced to carry heavy weights under constant abuse.

The protection of the wild populations of elephants hasn’t seen much success either. The Department of Wildlife Conservation recorded 151 elephant deaths in the first four months of the year, translating to at least one elephant death a day in the first quarter of 2023. Nearly half of them died due to human causes. The death toll, both human and elephant, from the human-elephant conflict hit a record high in 2022, with 145 people and 433 elephants killed.

The Sri Lankan elephant is a unique sub-species and is only one of three such sub-species of Asian elephants. Therefore, it has unique characteristics and DNA. This uniqueness should be a major factor in determining the conservation of this animal. Sri Lanka should immediately cease the practice of gifting elephants to other countries. Such gifts not only diminish the gene pool of the unique sub species but also endanger the elephants to mistreatment and cruelty in foreign zoos that may not be equipped to handle elephants. 

Further the conservation efforts must make the elephants an umbrella species as protecting these animals will indirectly protect the many other species that make up the ecological community of its habitat. Further, the health and wellbeing of the animals used in the numerous peraheras including the grand pageant in Kandy should be ensured through constant monitoring and minimising the strain on the creatures.