Saving Sri Lanka’s gentle giants

Elephants have been part of the Sinhalese culture for centuries, forming an integral part of cultural ceremonies and the national workforce. However, as SHAMLAL PURI found out, some of these jumbos lead a miserable life

No other animal has been associated with Sri Lankans in their traditional and religious activities like the elephant. Their association can be traced back more than 50 centuries, when ancient Sinhalese kings first captured and tamed them.

Today, suitably decked out in glittering regalia, elephants still take part in ceremonial, cultural and religious pageants. They also assist Sri Lankans in logging and construction work. They have fought in wars and featured in various sports and combat.

Historically, Sinhala kings gave the elephant complete protection by royal decree. The penalty for killing an elephant was death. However, British rulers withdrew this protection. They killed large numbers of elephants under the guise of sport, and, seeing the animals as agricultural pests, paid a bounty for each elephant killed.

Today, Sri Lanka is taking giant strides in the protection of its elephants. One organisation working hard to protect the jumbos is the Millennium Elephant Foundation (MEF), a charity based in Kegalle, 100 kilometres from Colombo. Sandith Samarasinghe, MEF’s vice president, welcomed me to Samaragiri, the 15-acre estate where the sanctuary is based.

Samaragiri has been home to the Samarasinghe family for many generations and the family has owned elephants since the 1960s. The late Sam Samarasinghe, an animal lover, opened the estate to the public in 1979, and MEF was founded in August 1999, in his memory.

Launched with the assistance of the World Society for the Protection of Animals, MEF focuses on improving the care, protection and treatment of elephants in Sri Lanka. It is the only non-profit organisation working with captive elephants in that country.

Pioneer project

MEF is also home to Footsteps Elephant Consultancy — the only mahout-training programme accredited by the Sri Lankan Department of Wildlife. (A mahout is a person who works with or rides an elephant.)

Many captive elephants lead a miserable life. Unfortunately, this is unlikely to change soon in a country whose roots are set deeply in tradition and is still recovering from a 30-year civil war and the 2004 tsunami.

Owning elephants is expensive — they eat a lot and need extra care when unwell. However, they also provide a good income and are a status symbol. Some people keep elephants chained in their gardens to show off their wealth.

These elephants rarely receive proper care, as there are few experts to ensure their physical and emotional needs are met. In addition, after their caring owners die, some elephants are passed on to ignorant handlers.

Many elephants are hired out to the logging contractors, where they are worked hard and often mistreated. Logging can cause damage to the tusks, leading to breakages, infections, nerve-end damage, dislocations and bleeding gums.

To save these elephants, MEF pays owners a wage for the animals, looks after the mahout and pays for food and medical bills. Some owners have handed over elephants into the foundation’s care because they cannot afford to keep them.

The average daily expenses are $58 (about Sh5,000) per elephant, covering food and mahout wages. That adds up to $3,248 (about Sh280,000) per week for the eight elephants at MEF. Added to this is the increasing cost of medicines and daily vitamins and minerals.

At MEF, the elephants do not do heavy manual work, and are well provided with food, water and medical treatment. Tourists have the opportunity to wash the elephants and ride them around the estate.

A pioneering project is underway to improve the lives of captive elephants. The $70,000 (Sh5.9 million) Freedom Fence will give elephants some 325,000 square feet of space in which to roam freely, including taking a dip in the nearby Kuda Oya River.

Recent legislation published by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority lays down new rules regarding using captive elephants for tours.

Preventing conflict

According to the law, a captive animal must enjoy five freedoms: Freedom from malnutrition, freedom from terminal physical discomfort, freedom from injury and disease, freedom from fear and stress, and freedom to express normal patterns and behaviour.

One niggling problem in countries with wildlife is the conflict between animals and humans. Part of the problem in Sri Lanka is that 70 per cent of wild elephants are not living in the protected areas.

MEF regularly visits Habarana, a transit point for elephant herds moving between national parks, to see how farmers are protecting their crops and how the elephant habitat is affected.

In 2011, human-wildlife conflict led to the deaths of 200 elephants and 48 people in Sri Lanka.