Jumbos on the march
2003-02-16 14:50
Colombo - Nearly 100 elephants paraded in the capital on Sunday as their handlers demanded the government allow the capture of more of the beasts from Sri Lanka's jungles to train for religious ceremonies.
No religious function in this predominantly Buddhist country is complete without an ornately decorated elephant, but owners say that because of a ban on capturing the mighty animals in the wild since the 1950s, the stock of domesticated elephants is depleted and growing too old to breed.
Sunday's jumbo procession went to a junction in the centre of Colombo, famous as a protest venue among trade unionists and political parties, where the elephants were made to stand up in a row as if picketing. Later they marched to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's office, where they delivered a petition.
"I'm ageing, I can't go in processions as before," read one banner carried on an elephant. "Who is there to carry the tooth relic after us?" read another.
Elephants are often used in religious processions to carry caskets containing sacred items like the island's famous tooth relic of the Buddha.
Nilanga Dela of Captive Elephant Owners' Association said that there are 170 elephants owned by private individuals in Sri Lanka and more than half of them are old and cannot be used in processions any longer.
He said the government banned capturing wild elephants in the 1950s, and many elephants captured before then are now old and unable to mate.
Dela said the association has requested the government at least auction elephants kept at an orphanage for baby elephants, which was opened 27 years ago to save the beasts, whose population in the wild is also under threat.
As Sri Lanka's forests have been cleared for farmland, elephants have begun invading farms for food, prompting villagers to erect electric wires to protect their land, although this risks killing elephants. - Sapa-AP
- SAPA