12/08/2018
Today is World Elephant Day !
A day for celebration of this beautiful and intelligent animal, but also a for their survival !
In the 1970s to mid-80s, during the last great elephant poaching crisis, Africa lost more than half of its elephant populations. In a decade and a half, roughly 800,000 animals were killed to supply the ivory trade. In response, the world put in a global ban on the international ivory trade in 1989.
The Sri Lankan elephant is one of three recognized subspecies of the Asian elephant, and native to Sri Lanka : « Elephas maximus maximus ». The decline is occurring at an ‘alarming pace’ with around 5,900 remaining currently ( Tuskers 120). As environmentally conscious people, we are all well aware that when the population swells – the animals suffer. The elephant is no easy animal to accommodate : It has large habitat areas and migration paths, it is also large in size meaning that it needs adequate water and sustenance to thrive. In fact, one single elephant needs to consume up to 300kg of food stuff per day, and 200 litres of water.
Keeping them in the Department of Wildlife Protected areas is important, but this soon proved impractical. A proper planning will play a huge part, but so too will local people speaking up on the issues that affect them and campaigning for change to ensure elephants and people are protected ( elephant habitat versus agribusiness, urbanization).
So what can we do? We can encourage sustainable and responsible development, and proper planning. We can also ensure that we do not buy into businesses such as hotels or tourist attractions that have actively taken part in the destruction of habitat without the proper care or planning. Encouraging recycling, reusing, and reducing too can have nothing but a positive effect for both humans and the
Witness the endangered elephants roaming free in Sri Lanka for yourself, and enjoy beauty of nature !
