Lankan asks the court to save elephants from accidental death – island

By Quintus Colombage

(UCAN) The people of Sri Lanka have held a call to protect elephants, an animal revered in the Buddhist culture, after an increasing number of them died in the wild, hit by passenger trains.

The media in the Buddhist-Majority nation began to discuss the problem after a passenger train hit a flock of elephants and killed six of them in the east of Colombo on February 20. Also, the train derailed.

As the discussions progressed, the Center for Environment, a conservation of the environment, submitted a petition on March 3, seeking the intervention of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka.

The petition requested the Directorate of the Court to the officials of the forest departments, railways, transports and wild animals to initiate joint mitigation measures, such as improving the driver’s visibility on railway lines.

The petitioners also recommended the registration of security forces, especially the air forces, and the search for international aid for the adoption of modern technologies to protect elephants.

The petition said that 151 elephants have died from train collisions over the past 13 years. The population of elephants is also rapidly decreasing from 5,879 in 2011 to 3,130 in the 2024 survey, he said.

Nihal Gamlath, an environmental Christian activist in Habarana, said the ecologists, who cut the religious lines, proposed several steps to protect the animals. “But they haven’t acted yet.”

However, on March 4, the government rescheduled trains, and the railway department cleaned the bushes for visibility, helping the drivers stop the trains if the elephants cross the rails at night.

Gamlath, married to a Buddhist, said that elephants are legally protected in Sri Lanka, with strict regulations against the capture of wild elephants, although some have tanned them and kept them as status symbols.

Habarana has a large population of elephants and is famous for attracting hundreds of tourists, stimulating foreign revenues for the economy that is fighting from the country.

He said that people have an “emotional” attachment to elephants because of their connection with Buddhism.

In the Buddhist tradition, “the elephant is considered sacred and auspicious, related to religious ceremonies, processions and rituals of the Temple and his teachings,” said Gamlath.

Elephants symbolize the power, wisdom and peace for the Buddhists. They also believe that Buddha’s mother, Queen Maya, dreamed of a white elephant entering the right, which means the miraculous conception of the Buddha.

Hundreds of Buddhist temples from all over the country have decorated elephants in their processions.

Nimal Kodithuwakku, a Buddhist and Environmental activist, said he was in “deep pain who witnessed six killings of elephants.” The incident also brought the old mother into tears, he said.

“Most killed elephants were women, and a small elephant died after fought for two days near the railways. Another elephant fought for two days for life, ”he said Kodithuwakku.