Tamed giants in chains

07 Apr 2021

Tamed giants in chains

07 Apr 2021

By Dulki Seethawaka Elephants are of significant value in Sri Lanka for various economic, entertainment, and traditional purposes. They have been a part of the most important cultural event for Buddhists, which is the peraheras (Buddhist religious processions). The debate has continued where monks and a section of the Buddhist population argue that such traditions have been a part of the identity of our country and therefore should be followed. The contrary argument by welfare organisations and animal rights activists is that domesticated elephants are subject to immense pain and loneliness, and that such suffering for animals is not promoted in Buddhism. Sections 23, 24, and 25 of the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance grant protection for domesticated elephants to some extent. However, it is not unknown that domesticated elephants are subject to cruelty at the hands of their owners and caretakers every day. The main reasons include the lacuna in the applicable laws and non-compliance with the laws that are available. Unfortunately, the price is paid by the elephants who cannot express their plight. The subject of tamed elephants came under the limelight recently, when Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa (in his capacity as the Minister of Buddhasasana, Religious, and Cultural Affairs) and Minister of Wildlife and Forest Conservation C.B. Ratnayake presented a joint cabinet paper regarding the effective management of captive elephants with private elephant owners. The main objective of this venture is to address the shortage of tamed elephants that can be used for religious processions and cultural events in the country. However, on 30 March 2021, The Morning reported that the Government has decided not to implement the recommendations of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into Political Victimisation until the recommendations of the Special Presidential CoI to further investigate and report on the CoI report are received. Accordingly, this cabinet paper will not be implemented for the time being, since it was also recommended by the CoI. The purpose of this article is to evaluate the extent to which this cabinet paper can be justified. Summing up what happened in the past In terms of the background on the matter as to why there is a shortage of tamed elephants in the first place, one may remember that in February 2015, former Deputy Minister of Tourism Vasantha Senanayake announced a policy which provided that only persons with valid licenses are permitted to keep elephants. Accordingly, a two-week period of amnesty was granted to owners who illegally kept elephants to voluntarily hand over the animals to governmental authorities. Soon this was followed by raiding various locations where animals were kept without permits and a number of elephants were seized by the authorities. The owners were accused of illegally catching them from the wild and keeping them without a valid license, and legal action was taken against them. Furthermore, the courts gave the custody of 13 elephants in 2015 and three elephants in 2016 to the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage. As The Morning reported on 14 March 2021, 38 elephants out of 42 that were in private ownership have been given to zoos (Dehiwala Zoo, Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, Pinnawala Open Zoo, and Ridiyagama Safari Park). This resulted in raising concerns on how to fulfil the necessity of tamed elephants that are required for various cultural events and religious processions. Therefore, the joint cabinet paper proposes that the court cases against the owners should be withdrawn and that elephants must be handed back from state custody to their former private owners. Is this the best possible choice we have? This should be decided after carefully analysing the pros and cons of either handing over the tamed elephants to former owners or to zoos, or releasing the pachyderms to the wild. Can private owners care for elephants? The first option, as suggested in the cabinet paper, is to entrust the elephants to their former private owners. It is a must that we understand that there cannot be private owners for elephants, but that there could be mere guardians or keepers selected by the government on their capacity to care for the elephant. Therefore, the correct term should be “guardians” or “keepers” of domesticated elephants. However, since the cabinet paper refers to them as “private owners”, let us now consider the cons of giving elephants to private owners. What is the need for private parties to own tamed elephants? This is considered to be a symbol of prestige and social status. Only the rich and powerful people can own elephants, which is a fact. However, what about the dark truths that are concealed behind this? These rich people use elephants for various commercial purposes even though it is prohibited. Domesticated elephants are rented out to peraheras for a considerable sum by their guardians. Also, elephants are used as tourist attractions and are forced to give rides, while some are mistreated in certain temples and kovils, where people pay money to follow imprudent customs. A classic example is the belief that if you go under the stomach of an elephant, you will be blessed with a long life filled with prosperity. Another instance is that if you feed elephants, then the negative energy from planetary positions will be lifted. It is disheartening that these majestic animals are forced to live confined lives for such absurd purposes. Secondly, what about the animal welfare aspect, which is the common practice in most developed countries? Animal welfare can be defined by following the concept of the “five freedoms” which, as per the Office International des Epizooties – World Organisation for Animal Health (2021), provides for the minimum standard of care to be exercised by the animals who are under human control. This group of animals mostly relates to captivated and domesticated livestock and farm animals. The five freedoms include the freedom from hunger, malnutrition, and thirst; the freedom from fear and distress; the freedom from heat stress or physical discomfort; the freedom from pain, injury, and disease; and the freedom to express normal patterns of behaviour. So, the question is: Do domesticated elephants experience the true essence of animal welfare, according to the concept of the five freedoms? Do they have adequate food and water? An elephant can eat 300 pounds in a day, including trees, shrubs, grass, and vegetables. But we have always seen domesticated elephants eating coconut, banana, kithul, or other edible branches of trees, and therefore whether they do actually get enough food and water as per their requirements is a question that needs an answer. Freedom from fear and distress is not available for domesticated elephants because they are always accompanied by mahouts carrying bull pricks. Elephants are very scared of this weapon and it inflicts serious injuries upon the poor animals. Domesticated elephants do not have a method to release their heat stress or physical discomfort. They are hardly provided any sexual interactions with the opposite sex. Male elephants are very aggressive when they are in musth/must and females are in estrus. The existing practice that domesticated elephants experience at present is to have chains put on their legs and being kept tied in an isolated place until they recover themselves. Chains and bull pricks cause injuries and pain. Especially when elephants are chained for a lengthy period, they end up having injured, swollen feet. Some elephants are chained in such a way that they cannot even move their feet. This is a very common incident during the perahera times. The lack of traditional mahouts who are compassionate and humane towards elephants is another major disadvantage. Freedom to express normal patterns of behaviour is yet another facility that domesticated elephants are deprived of. Elephants are highly intelligent and often stay together in a matriarch-led herd. The affinity among the members of this herd is very strong. When baby elephants are illegally captured and separated from their mothers, the babies and the mothers become distressed. Furthermore, a wild elephant walks 50 miles during a day in search of food. Unfortunately, domesticated elephants are excluded from all these natural behavioural patterns. It is clear that elephants that have private owners are not provided with the minimum requirement of animal welfare as required by international standards. The biggest concern is that there are no strict rules and regulations to protect such domesticated elephants from their owners. The Animal Welfare Bill, which addresses the concept of the physical and emotional wellbeing of animals, similar to the five freedoms of animal welfare, is yet to be implemented (almost 15 years have passed since it was drafted), and would have approached the issue in a competent manner. But nothing much is left to be done other than waiting for some more years, praying it would be legalised. The only advantage in handing over elephants to the owners, rather than releasing them to the wild, is that they will be protected from all sorts of dangers that they might face in the forests. But if the elephant is given a choice, what will it choose? A lifetime of slavery in chains or some years of freedom in the wild? The answer is quite obvious. Handing over elephants to zoos When elephants are taken into state custody, they are then handed over to zoos until the conclusion of ongoing and pending legal proceedings concerning their ownership. The Department of National Zoological Gardens includes the Dehiwala Zoo, Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, Pinnawala Zoo, and the Ridiyagama Safari Park. The latter was the most recent addition, which is supposed to promote eco-tourism. But The Morning reported on 8 January 2021 that they use negative reinforcement techniques and do not meet the global standards of sanctuaries. So, now the question is: Are these so-called parks and zoos suitable for elephants? No. Let’s accept it, zoos and parks in Sri Lanka are nothing more than prisons where animals are confined to limited spaces (mostly a concrete cell) and are given limited food, care, and hardly any facilities to follow their natural habitat and instincts. There is plenty of evidence to the same that can be found in a visit to either the Dehiwala Zoo or the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage. Given the five animal welfare freedoms, the only difference compared to the elephants who have private owners is that these facilities allow for breeding in captivity. However, the living conditions could be far worse than that of owned elephants. It costs a lot of money to care for an elephant, and there are many elephants in such facilities. There must be adequate food, a couple of mahouts, and medicine for emergencies for elephants. Also, there is no protection from cruelty to these elephants under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance. Are elephants safe in the wild? The third option is to release these animals to where they truly belong – into the wild. They can be free, roam around to find their food, and become a part of a herd. But are they safe in the forest conservations in Sri Lanka? Once again, the answer is no. As per recent reports, last year records the highest number of elephant deaths in Sri Lanka, and our country holds the number one position in the list of countries with the highest number of elephant deaths. Wild elephants in Sri Lanka are facing so many issues and life-threatening situations. There is the issue of the lack of adequate food and water. Their reservoirs are taken over by people for various large-scale development projects or cultivation purposes, and their traditional travel paths (elephant corridors) are obstructed. They are hunted for their tusks. They die due to various circumstances including accidents involving collision with trains or vehicles, electric fences, poisoning and shooting by people, falling into farm wells, death traps, eating explosive crackers (hakka patas), and garbage consumption. They become handicapped due to shootings, or are deafened by the noise of gunpowder products. It has become an everyday struggle for elephants to survive in the wild. If the tamed elephants are released to the forests, there is a very good possibility of them getting killed. Domesticated elephants do not know how to survive in the wild. For one reason, they are used to people. They might try to go into a village in search of food, and the people would then attack them. They do not know how to fight for their survival if another male elephant (the most common case is a tusker) attacks them. They do not know which travel paths they should take or which food they should not eat. They do not know the limitations of the area which is reserved for them and could thereby become a victim of poaching. Therefore, releasing tamed elephants to the wild is nothing more than sending them to their graves. A middle path with new thinking The major concern was regarding the practicality of the cabinet paper which proposes the withdrawal of court cases on elephants and handing them back from state custody to their former private owners. It is clear that the tamed or domesticated elephants are not safe if they are released to the wild. The competition for survival is so tough that they would not stand a chance. However, it does not mean that they should simply be handed over to private owners. There must be proper and stringent rules and regulations to ensure that these elephants would not face any cruelty during their capture. If elephants are a part of our historical traditions and culture, then such traditions must be renewed. As humans, people must adapt for change, whether it is a tradition or a norm, and must evolve when there is the necessity. Instead of chains, they can wear protective gear which would not injure their legs. There are many cases where the elephant became aggressive when the mahout unnecessarily provokes it under the influence of alcohol. Proper education must be given to mahouts and laws must be brought to those who are irresponsible with the elephants, so that they are held accountable for their conduct. There are no rules which specify that elephants used in peraheras should not engage in their natural behaviours. Therefore, we can implement new rules which would require owners to temporarily release their elephants when they are in heat rather than tying them in chains. Sanctuaries can be made where domesticated elephants can stay temporarily, which consist of the best possible natural living conditions including water, food, and safety. If there are no peraheras, then elephants must be sent to these sanctuaries, where they can bathe in a river, walk for 50 miles in search of food, communicate with their herd, and reproduce their species. They must be given the opportunity to live without the fear of chains and bull pricks. These sanctuaries must be protected with strict laws and policies in order to ensure the safety of these animals while they are inside. Being the race which can communicate, we must walk together with the other species. As Sri Lankans, and as a nation of compassion and humanity, we must protect the biggest mammal walking on Earth. We must pay attention to their silent calls and help them. Whether it is a pet dog or a tamed elephant, we have the responsibility to take good care of its physical and emotional wellbeing, and they too have the equal right to be protected. (The writer is an Attorney-at-Law and environmental researcher)

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Tamed giants in chains

Tamed giants in chains

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