Sri Lanka to issue captive elephants with identity cards
ELEPHANTS kept in captivity in Sri Lanka are to be given biometric identity cards as a way of protecting them from ill treatment.
Authorities have also banned owners from riding them while drunk as part of a host of measures that are contained in a wide-ranging animal protection law.
The new law aims to address widespread complaints of cruelty and ill treatment against elephants that are kept as pets in the South Asian nation.
There are around 200 domesticated elephants officially recorded in Sri Lanka. They are commonly kept by Buddhist monks and wealthy people who like to show them off.
Elephants are considered sacred in the majority-buddhist island and are already protected to ensure minimum standards of care, but prosecutions have been rare. In one notorious case, a particularly old elephant – a 70-year-old domesticated Asian elephant – died in 2019 after being made to walk several miles in an annual Buddhist pageant. Now, as part of strict measures meant to ensure elephants are properly cared for, owners must send them for a medical check-up every six months.
The new regulations also aim to end harsh treatment of working elephants, including at tourist sites where visitors can feed baby elephants. Baby elephants can no longer be put to work or separated from their mothers.
Wildlife safaris are a major tourist draw in Sri Lanka, including elephant rides. The new law says that no more than four tourists can ride an elephant, and they must sit on a well-padded saddle to protect the animal.
The measures call on owners of working elephants to make sure each one has a two-and-a-half-hour bath every day. Each elephant must also have its own photo identity card with a DNA stamp. In another new rule, a rider – known as a mahout – may not ride an elephant while drinking alcohol.
People who violate the new law will see their elephant taken into state care, and they will face punishment of up to three years’ imprisonment.
In other measures, elephants engaged in hoisting logs and other work in the logging industry cannot work for more than four hours a day, and they are not allowed to work at night.
They are also banned from the film industry – they cannot be used unless they are government productions with vets supervising their treatment.
Compared with the 200 domesticated animals, there are an estimated 7,500 elephants in the Sri Lankan wild, although activists say the elephant population is on the decline because of the destruction of their habitats.
Some elephants who have been forced to spread out further looking for food have been killed in conflicts with farmers and others protecting their crops.