Nov 1, 2016

For centuries, owning an elephant was seen by Sri Lanka’s Buddhist elite as a sign of prestige and authority. Many among the wealthy, who consider the animals to be divine, have long flouted laws against elephant ownership to keep a jumbo chained up in their back yard. But with illegal capture helping to drive wild populations into steep decline, the government is now cracking down, seizing the animals and launching criminal investigations against elite members of society, including a monk and a judge. Even as the country cracks down on illegal ownership, the enduring demand for elephants has the government planning to set up its own pool of captive animals to be hired out to temples for ceremonies and maintained with budget funds.

: In this July 5, 2016 photo, a tamed elephant rests in a pool of water by a road in Baduraliya, a village outside Colombo, Sri Lanka. Even as the country cracks down on illegal ownership, the enduring demand for elephants has the government planning to set up its own pool of captive animals to be hired out to temples for ceremonies and maintained with budget funds. For Buddhists, who make up 70 percent of the island’s 20 million population, elephants are believed to have been a servant of the Buddha and even a previous incarnation of the holy man himself. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

: File – In this July 30, 2007 file photo, mahouts and others stand after controlling an elephant called Choti Mahattaya, or Little Master, who ran berserk while taking part in a religious pageant in capital Colombo, Sri Lanka. Even as the country cracks down on illegal ownership, the enduring demand for elephants has the government planning to set up its own pool of captive animals to be hired out to temples for ceremonies and maintained with budget funds. The practice of taming them includes starving, beating and scaring them into submission, while keeping them chained up at all times, conservationists say. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena, File)

: In this July 5, 2016 photo, a Sri Lankan female mahout and her husband walk with their tamed elephant across a waterway in Baduraliya, a village outside Colombo, Sri Lanka. Even as the country cracks down on illegal ownership, the enduring demand for elephants has the government planning to set up its own pool of captive animals to be hired out to temples for ceremonies and maintained with budget funds. For Buddhists, who make up 70 percent of the island’s 20 million population, elephants are believed to have been a servant of the Buddha and even a previous incarnation of the holy man himself. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

: In this July 5, 2016 photo, a Sri Lankan mahout rests his hand on an iron chain that is used to tie his tamed elephant, in the backyard of his home in Baduraliya, a village outside Colombo, Sri Lanka. Even as the country cracks down on illegal ownership, the enduring demand for elephants has the government planning to set up its own pool of captive animals to be hired out to temples for ceremonies and maintained with budget funds. For Buddhists, who make up 70 percent of the island’s 20 million population, elephants are believed to have been a servant of the Buddha and even a previous incarnation of the holy man himself. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

: In this Oct. 20, 2016 photo, Sri Lankans walk in a procession with a tusker known as “Nadungamuwe Tusker,” who is famous for carrying the sacred tooth relic of the temple of tooth during its annual procession, during a felicitation to the animal for his services to Buddhist temple processions in Kirindiwela village, outside Colombo, Sri Lanka. For Buddhists, who make up 70 percent of the island’s 20 million population, elephants are believed to have been a servant of the Buddha and even a previous incarnation of the holy man himself. Sinhalese kings rode elephants into battle against invading armies. And every year, colorfully decorated tuskers carry an ornate box containing a replica of one of the Buddha’s teeth. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

: In this Oct. 20, 2016 photo, Sri Lankan traditional dancers escort a tusker known as “Nadungamuwe Tusker,” who is famous for carrying the sacred tooth relic of the temple of tooth during its annual procession, during a felicitation to the animal for his services to Buddhist temple processions in Kirindiwela village, outside Colombo, Sri Lanka. For Buddhists, who make up 70 percent of the island’s 20 million population, elephants are believed to have been a servant of the Buddha and even a previous incarnation of the holy man himself. Sinhalese kings rode elephants into battle against invading armies. And every year, colorfully decorated tuskers carry an ornate box containing a replica of one of the Buddha’s teeth. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

: In this Oct. 31, 2016 photo, Sri Lankans watch a heard of elephants at the elephant orphanage in Pinnawala about 90 kilometers (56 miles) east of Colombo, Sri Lanka. For centuries, owning an elephant was seen by Sri Lanka’s Buddhist elite as a sign of prestige and authority. Many among the wealthy, who consider the animals to be divine, have long flouted laws against elephant ownership to keep a jumbo chained up in their back yard. But with illegal capture helping to drive wild populations into steep decline, the government is now cracking down, seizing the animals and launching criminal investigations against elite members of society, including a monk and a judge. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

: In this July 5, 2016 photo, a Sri Lankan mahout attempt to measure the height of his tamed elephant in the backyard of his home in Baduraliya, a village outside Colombo, Sri Lanka. Even as the country cracks down on illegal ownership, the enduring demand for elephants has the government planning to set up its own pool of captive animals to be hired out to temples for ceremonies and maintained with budget funds. For Buddhists, who make up 70 percent of the island’s 20 million population, elephants are believed to have been a servant of the Buddha and even a previous incarnation of the holy man himself. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

: In this Oct. 31, 2016 photo, a zoological garden worker using his hands sprays water on an elephant as the heard rests in a river at the elephant orphanage in Pinnawala about 90 kilometers (56 miles) east of Colombo, Sri Lanka .For centuries, owning an elephant was seen by Sri Lanka’s Buddhist elite as a sign of prestige and authority. Many among the wealthy, who consider the animals to be divine, have long flouted laws against elephant ownership to keep a jumbo chained up in their back yard. But with illegal capture helping to drive wild populations into steep decline, the government is now cracking down, seizing the animals and launching criminal investigations against elite members of society, including a monk and a judge.(AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Sri Lanka cracks down on illegal elephant ownership

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