Sri Lanka – Elephant Awareness
Seeing elephants is a highlight for many visitors to Sri Lanka, and without a doubt observing them is a pure delight. However, as tourists it is our responsibility to be aware of practices that may cause suffering to these beautiful intelligent endangered animals.
It is now widely acknowledged and stated by the British Travel Association (Abta) that the riding of elephants and interacting with them without a barrier is unacceptable. However, it’s also important to be aware of other tourist attractions, such as those advertised as sanctuaries, that may not have the elephants’ welfare at heart.
Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage
We’ve all seen the photographs of orphaned elephants gloriously bathing and trumpeting their way through the river next to Pinnawala Orphanage. It’s one of Sri Lanka’s most popular tourist attractions. However, whilst I’m no expert on elephant conservation I was shocked and unpleasantly surprised by the orphanage.
It was on my third to Sri Lanka that I decided to spend a night in Pinnawala and visit the Elephant Orphanage. It had not been an excursion that had appealed to me on previous visits, but I had my son with me and we figured it might make for an interesting visit to see how orphaned and retired working elephants were cared for.
We paid our entry of Rs.2500 each and began wandering around. I’m not sure what we expected, but alarms bells began to ring when we were met by feeding pens, where you get up close to watch baby elephants being fed, elephants in stalls and most distressingly of all, bull elephants chained by their legs in solitary confinement rocking to and fro. The pinned-up notices explained that these were adult males in musth, which is a period of about 6 months when their increased production of reproductive hormones causes them to be excessively aggressive. They are therefore chained up for their own safety and the safety of other elephants.
As I said, and stress, I know nothing about elephant conservation, but this wasn’t what we were expecting to see, and we felt uncomfortable and felt very sorry for the elephants. After about 20 minutes my son said he wanted to leave, and we did.
The next morning, we opened our bedroom curtains to the delight of seeing the orphaned elephants splashing through the river below, we quickly dressed and went down to the banks of the hotel to observe them. Yes, admittedly this was good to see, but on closer inspection, whilst some elephants could roam around freely, others were chained by their legs to metal hoops in the rocks – again a distressing sight.
After visiting, I did some research on Pinnawala and found that both the Born Free Foundation and PETA Animal Welfare Charity, do not support the orphanage’s practice and have raised concerns that Pinnawala:
- does not release rescued elephants into the wild or repopulate Sri Lanka’s endangered species.
- Elephants are bred in captivity for the purpose of remaining in captivity, thus for the sake of tourists and making money.
- Elephant calves are separated from their mothers, causing distress for both mother and calf.
- Elephants are chained, causing both physical and emotional distress.
- Elephants are trained by the use of an ‘ankus’ – a sharp hook with a spike, which threatens the animal with pain and commonly used in circus training.
Born Free concluded, that Pinnawala is a tourist attraction to make money which conflicts with their advertised messaged of an orphanage or sanctuary.
If you want to see elephants, and why wouldn’t you? They are some of the most magnificent animals on our planet visit Yala National Park and see them in their natural habitat or Udawalawe Elephant Transit Home which is a facility supported by Born Free, and a half way house for elephants who will be released back into Udawalawe National Park.
Parading Elephants – Esala Perahera (Kandy Festival)
The use of elephants for both work and parading is a long-held tradition and in the case of work, a necessity in the past. It is thought that the use of elephants in the Kandy Festival dates back to the 18th Century and whilst this is an incredible spectacle, and I don’t wish to impose my western values, is it time to ask whether the parading of 60 elephants for our entertainment is ethical?
These brightly adorned elephants face 10 nights of noise, fireworks, smoke and shackled walks of up to 10 km, and although the Sri Lankan government in 2017 introduced tougher legislation to protect elephants from exploitation, in 2019 images of an emaciated malnourished 70 year old elephant called Tikiri went viral in the world’s press after being released by the Save the Elephant Foundation.
Tikiri died following the 2019 festival and questions were asked as to why she was used when she was clearly unwell and distressed; however, because she was covered in a brightly adorned costume her physical appearance could not be seen. The Foundation released the images to raise awareness of the exploitation and mistreatment of some elephants in Sri Lanka.
What can we do?
It is perhaps now that more tourists are visiting Sri Lanka, that we need to be aware of how tourist attractions in a bid to make money can lead to elephants suffering needlessly. PETA state that visiting tourists can help by:
- refusing to ride elephants
- avoiding any attractions that endorse chained or performing elephants
Instead support projects that are dedicated to protecting elephants such as those listed by the Save the Elephant Foundation, Born Free and sustainable organised holidays such as those listed in Responsible Travel, or as mentioned above visit National Parks where elephants can be seen in their natural environment.