Is there no compassion for the born free?
As a mother would risk her life
to protect her child, her only child,
even so should one cultivate a limitless heart
with regard to all beings.
Translation of the Metta Sutta by Thanissaro Bhikku (The Theravada website)
Thin, emaciated and mortally wounded, this female elephant walks on, collapsing from time to time, to rise and walk again, desperate to stay alive and care for her young calf. The callous, cruel act of a poacher? Not this time. This barbarity is the work of a new breed of thief who pilfers of this nation’s natural wealth to feed greed, and adorn wealth and status. This is the work of Baby Elephant Rustlers whose modus operandi is to shoot the mother and then remove the baby, the whole operation costing the recipient as much as Rs. 10 Million, or so it is said.
The mother died a week later, and the vultures were waiting. The baby vanished, to be imprisoned, chained, tortured and broken, so that the rich and the powerful could boast of the elephant they now own…to the shame of the noble tenets that this country proudly boasts to be the guardian of. What Metta this?
Straining at captivity. Pic by Laurianne Mitton
Some will intellectualise, and excuse this pitilessness, to the cultural traditions of Sri Lanka where elephants have been used in captivity for work and in religious pageantry, and there is no denying that they were. Mechanization, however, has long since made the labour requirements of the elephant redundant, and men no longer make war on their backs, having access to more lethal carriers of destruction. They are still used for cultural pageants and tourism…ironically the latter being better served by keeping elephants wild and free in their pristine surroundings, to attract even more tourists and foreign exchange into this country.
Others will even claim that the number of elephants have increased, and quote the figures of a recent, controversial census to prove their point, thus justifying this present, barbarous and illegal practice. Yet as far back as 1998, Ajay Desai when employed as a consultant to the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) estimated the same number. So there has been no increase. It is just that the natural habitat of the elephants has been destroyed to such an extent and they are being pushed into smaller and smaller areas for survival; so their numbers seem greater.
As per the Law of this country, the Fauna & Flora Protection Ordinance (FFPO), it is illegal to steal not only elephants, but any other protected species, animal or plant, for any purpose. So what of the upholders of that Law, the DWC? How can one be too critical of them when even the Police are unable to take any action against the perpetrators even when they are caught red-handed, as in the recent, much publicised Uda Walawe case? If these men spurn the noble religious teachings and beliefs they have been weaned on, then what are the mere Laws of Men?
There is no more need for an individual to possess an elephant. It may be argued, however, that the cultural traditions of the country demand such a captive population. There is such a captive population available, at Pinnawela, where those orphans from other atrocities find refuge. If necessary, these could be bred in captivity to supply this need. There should be no reason to take any elephants, an endangered species, from the wild.
And what of the baby, once gamboling wild and free at his mother’s side, in the protection of the herd? He is somewhere, in some garden or enclosure, frightened, lonely, beaten, chained, broken, wondering where his mother and herd vanished, and why his innocent freedom has been changed to a captive hell. It is already too late for him. He will die in chains, scarred, bent and psychologically destroyed. And others will follow him that is unless the voices of the people of this Nation, the majority, who do believe in the gentle, wise precepts of that Noble Teacher prevail. If not, then not just elephants, but all will be lost. As Ajay Desai put it so succinctly in an article in Sanctuary Asia (April 2011).
“…Believe me, if the elephant were to ever go, we would be gone before it, maybe not us, but definitely the ecosystem and society as we know it.”
It’s not about elephants or conservation anymore, it’s really about us. Climate change, water wars, energy crisis, etc… all the precursors to a breakdown of civilized society are staring us in the face today… or have you not been reading the real news?”