Yet another elephant problem

Whether it’s ‘val ali’ – wild elephants – or ‘heele ali’ – tame elephants – both have become problems. Of course, they are problems of a different nature. 

Wild elephants come out of the jungles and start harassing people mainly in the agricultural areas creating the human-elephant conflict. It had led to deaths of both parties and the numbers keep increasing. The problem reached Cabinet level. Yet no solution has been found. One strategy was to capture such elephants and to tame them. But no action seems to have been taken.

Possibly if that strategy was followed, the second problem may have not arisen. Lack of tame elephants to participate in ‘peraheras’ has reached the level when Cabinet intervention has been sought to solve it. 

A Cabinet paper by Minister of Sustainable Development and Wildlife Gamini Jayawickrama Perera on ‘Maintaining a pool of elephants for cultural activities’ was discussed and approved by the Cabinet this week, according to the official release on Cabinet decisions. 

“The perahera culture of Sri Lanka has a great history and has attracted the world’s attention. It has been observed that it is essential to use elephants in peraheras to maintain its pride and devoutness,” the proposal to the Cabinet stated.

The solution is for a ‘pool of about 35 elephants’ to be set up under the Zoological Department. When a ‘pool’ is mentioned, one is reminded of the ‘notorious’ pool of top level public officials in the Ministry of Public Administration where ‘unwanted’ officials are sent after every general election. 

Transfers to the ‘pool’ are done mainly due to political reasons where a new regime identifies officials who are supposed to have been either political appointees or partial towards the previous regime. 

Getting back to elephants, the decision comes at a time when the Zoological Department has faced much criticism in the media for inefficient administration. The elephants are to be selected from the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage and Udawalawa Eth Athuru Sevana – both places known for the care and attention paid to the elephants with the Udawalawa project being maintained by the Merril Fernando Charitable Foundation – and possibly to be brought to the Dehiwala Zoo. 

Another issue is as to how there is a dearth of elephants for the ‘peraheras’ when over the years there have been sufficient elephants who are brought from different parts of the country for the Esala Perahera in Kandy, Gangarama Perahera and the Bellanwila Perahera – the three most prominent events which never overlap one another. 

The Cabinet paper mentions that “several activities are held together with the Dalada Perahera, thereby causing the numbers to be insufficient.” As far as we remember, there has always been the main ‘perahera’ and the Devale ‘peraheras’ at the Esala Perahera. The additional ones have been mainly the dance troupes where elephants have not been used. Whatever it may be, it’s claimed that there are less elephants available for the processions. Hopefully, the Zoological Department will do a good job in maintaining the pool. 

As I read the Cabinet decision and turned to the online edition of another newspaper, there was a news story referring of some ‘pada yatra’ pilgrims who walk to Kataragama from the Eastern Province through Panama jungles and on the Buttala Raja Mawatha being attacked by elephants and taken by the Army to hospital. Even those who travel in vehicles face the problem of attacks with the elephants looking for food due to the scarcity of both water and food in the jungles.