Jumbo mission to save Panamure
The Panamure elephant Kraal becomes a vital aspect in the elephant conflict history due to several reasons. It is on August 9, 1950 that the Panamure Majestic elephant laid down its life for the sake of the elephants being tortured in the Panamure elephant kraal. The unfortunate incident triggered massive protests in the country. As a result of a mass demonstrations by non violent people of this country over this incident, the Government prohibited the keeping of elephant kraals in Sri Lanka, safeguarding the freedom of wild elephants for whose freedom the Majestic Panamure elephant sacrificed its life.
But today the Panamure area has been neglected leaving only a name board to evoke such a significant incident that shook the whole world. During a visit to the area in 2010, it was ASP Saman Ratnayake who took the initia- tive start to a new mission to reconstruct the figures of the Majestic elephant of Panamure, the other wild elephants and calves as they appeared then and to make available the skeletons of tuskers, other elephants (both bull and cow) and calves, along with goods, caparison etc; for research of local and foreign tourists and for research purposes to those interested. This may be the one and only place in Sri Lanka, perhaps in the entire world which depicts the scene of an elephant kraal which was used for capturing wild elephants. Further this may be a museum for Sri Lankan elephants, ASP Rathnayake said.
He is the founder and Executive Director of the Historic Panamure Hasthiraja Foundation which is involved in jumbo task.
Famous poets and lyricists like Chandraratna Manawasinghe, Ananda Rajakaruna and Sugathapala Malalasekara composed lyrics and songs on this animal and the unfortunate incident in 1950. Among them are “Panamure Ali Weeraya”( Elephant Hero of Panamure), “Athgale Darupema”(mother love in Elephant Kraal) and “Panamure Eth Raja” (Majestic Elephant of Panamure). Of these songs “Panamure Eth Raja” is popular even today.
Another new song on the Panamure tusker penned by ASP Saman Rathnayake was recorded recently. It was sung by Saman Lenin and set to tune by Navaratne Gamage.
The foundation hopes to push towards making this a world heritage site with the issuance of a stamp on August 9, 2012 – to coincide with the 62nd anniversary of the Panamure tragedy.