John orders action against elephant mistreatment

• Wants Department of Wildlife Conservation to revive Committee of Experts tasked with preparing guidelines on keeping elephants in captivity  
• Orders health report on all elephants in capacity

Tourism Development and Wildlife Minister John Amaratunga yesterday ordered an investigation into those responsible for including a 70-year old skeletal elephant in the annual Kandy Esala Perahera despite her poor health, in a move criticised as cruelty to the ailing animal.

“I have noted with concern media reports of a 70-year old elephant named Tikiri has been used in the Esala Perahera while her health condition according to published photographs appears to be bad. Considering what has transpired I have ordered officials of my Ministry to initiate an inquiry into this matter to ascertain how and why an elephant in such poor health was used in the Perahera and to take necessary action against those responsible for this,” the Minister said issuing an official statement yesterday.



The festival organisers withdrew the aged elephant from the final day of the 10-day pageant after an uproar from animal-lovers in social media, and slammed the authorities for forcing the ailing animal to participate wearing elaborate clothing at in a lengthy parade at the historic procession.

“I have been informed that the elephant collapsed yesterday. I have instructed the veterinary surgeons of the department of Wildlife Conservation to immediately inspect the condition of the elephant and recommend remedial measures to the owner of the elephant. I sincerely hope that the elephant will recover soon,” Amaratunga said.

The Minister has also directed the officials to take every possible step to ensure an incident of this nature does not occur again.

“I have instructed officials of the Department of Wildlife Conservation to revive the work that a Committee of Experts had done in 2015 - 2016 on preparing guidelines for owners of captive elephants so that the health held in captivity can be ensured,” he said.

In addition, the Minister noted that these guidelines will be reviewed by an expert committee already appointed by him to look into developing mitigation measures for Human Elephant Conflict (HEC) and finalised for implementation as soon as possible.

“I am also appointing a team of Veterinary Surgeons from the Department of Wildlife Conservation and Department of Zoological Gardens to inspect the health of all elephants in captivity and submit a report to me on their health,” the Minister said.