End elephant export

Sri Lankan animal activists were able to prevent baby elephant ‘Nandi’ from being gifted to the Auckland Zoo in New Zealand after they claimed that it was cruel to separate the calf from its herd. The calf was promised to former New Zealand Prime Minister John Key by President Maithripala Sirisena in 2016 as a sign of goodwill to mark outstanding bilateral relations between the two nations.

In July last year, activists claimed that the calf belonged to a rare and endangered species and sought an interim order to suspend the exportation of the animal. Last week, activists scored a victory when Attorney General Jayantha Jayasuriya assured the Court of Appeal that Nandi would remain at Pinnawala while steps would be taken to keep the animal in the country until the next court hearing scheduled for May.

Animal rights activists claimed that the calf may not be able to handle the change of scenery and climate as it moves from the tropical climate of Sri Lanka, which it is used to, to the much colder climate of New Zealand. Omalpe Sobitha, one of the Buddhist monks who opposed the exportation of the animal, stated that it would be wrong to take the calf away from its family, citing the strong family bonds that elephants are known to have.

The export of elephants has been a contentious topic for years in Sri Lanka. Paying tribute or honouring bilateral relations with the gifting of wild animals seems archaic in the context of contemporary animal rights awareness but Sri Lanka has been doing so for a long time. It may seem even more disagreeable in the context of the Buddhist values the country perpetuates although historians state that Sri Lanka has been exporting these beasts for over 2,000 years, mainly for warfare.

Curiously, the export of any part of the elephant, including tusks and hair, is illegal, although it is not unlawful to export a wild or tame elephant. Sri Lanka has gifted many to zoos around the world over the years, including three to China and two each to Japan, South Korea, the US and Czech Republic. New Zealand was also gifted an elephant back in 2015.

Activists have now flagged Sri Lanka as an export gateway for elephants in the region. This should be much harder to do in Sri Lanka as the capture of wild elephants is illegal. However, wild elephants in various facilities endorsed by the law are used as diplomatic gifts or in zoo-to-zoo exchanges. Activists claim that the lack of success in terms of breeding elephants in captivity has forced zoos to look for alternative methods to maintain captive populations. This has invariably meant that they have had to come up with ingenious methods to work around the law and boost numbers by sinking their teeth into wild populations.

Unless there are particular bilateral benefits that can only be obtained by the gifting of an elephant, it is imperative that the public puts pressure on the State to ensure the protection of wild populations of elephant and to make certain that wild elephants aren’t being dragged into captivity to fill zoo quotas. It is also important to support facilities that engage in reintroducing these animals into the wild instead of holding them in captivity indefinitely. Aside from the contentious topic of the use of elephants in peraheras, whether these magnificent creatures and their future offspring should be condemned to perpetual captivity and exploitation is a conversation that must be had now with all relevant stakeholders.