News
Another little jumbo cruelly snatched and tied up
With only a month since the SundayTimes reported an attempt to snatch a baby elephant from jungles of Galgamuwa, a raid by Wildlife Department officers turned up a little elephant kept illegally on a Mirigama estate, showing elephant poaching is a deep-seated racket.
The baby elephant, suspected to have been caught in the wild, was found on Friday (February 28).
It is illegal to keep any elephant captive without a permit from Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) and the mahouts failed to submit a credible permit for this baby elephant. Wildlife officers said they had produced a photocopy of a permit given for a six-and-a-half-year-old captive elephant. But this baby elephant is only about two or three years old. In absence of a credible permit the officers took the elephant into their custody.
The young elephant had cut wounds in its leg due to being tightly roped – a sure sign that it was not born to a captive female elephant.
Elephant specialists point out that if this elephant had been born in captivity it would have been accustomed to humans. Such an elephant would easily be tamed and there would be no need for being tightly roped. Cut wounds are caused when the baby elephant that is not used to being restricted is trying to get free.
The raid team was led Assistant Director of Western Wildlife Region W. Indrajith. The baby elephant has been transferred to the Elephant Transit Home (ETH) in Udawalawe. The officials say they are determined to find and arrest the real culprits behind this crime. Only a month ago an attempt to snatch a baby elephant from jungles of Galgamuwa was thwarted by the vigilance of villagers. The existence of a racket of snatching baby elephants to be raised in captivity has been known since late 1990s but due to involvement of powerful forces the real culprits continually escape being put behind bars.
It is believed as many as 60 elephants illegally caught from the wild are in hands of private owners.
At Mirigama the raising team found another grown elephant aged over 10 years for which the owners could not produce a permit. They stationed a guard at the estate asking the owners to submit the permit for this elephant. If the owner does not give a satisfactory response the DWC will this elephant also into safekeeping. The head of the DWC, H.D. Ratnayake, said his department would not hesitate to make any arrest if proper evidence is submitted.