The law has loopholes

Director General of the Wildlife Conservation Department, H.D. Ratnayake said that this racket could not go on - there was a grave need to find answers.

“Indeed the elephant-smuggling issue is something we have been discussing for some time. Unfortunately these smugglers escape from the law due to the loopholes in it. There are two extremes to this problem. Environmental conservationists say the tamed elephant culture must be discouraged. On the other hand the owners of the tamed elephants say the laws do not affect them. We cannot address both extremes. What we can follow is the middle path,” he said.

The Director General said they inspected issues when they received tip-offs.

“For instance, during the recent incidents in Mirigama, Arawwala we acted upon the information we received. Sometimes there are complaints and tipoffs but when we actually inspect there is nothing to it. We take action only if there is any violation of the law,” he said.

Rathnayake said currently the Department was formulating amendments and new regulations so that there would not be any loopholes. He said it was mandatory to make changes which matched the current society.

With regard to the lost elephant record book the Director General said that what was lost was not the Elephant Registry.

“The Elephant Registry is there. It is impossible for someone to steal it as it is huge. Every elephant has a file and then there is a main catalogue. Both the documents are there. There are 359 files and information in them is summarised in six books. One of these books is lost. All the important documents are safe. We substituted the lost book and entered all the data,” he said. When the Daily Mirror inquired whether he suspected any of the officials from the Department to be involved in elephant-smuggling he said there was no evidence to prove such allegation.