By Jamila Najmuddin
The Sri Lankan government is facing intense pressure over its decision to hand over a baby elephant to a Philippine Zoo after activists had claimed that conditions at the zoo were appalling.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), an animal rights organisation based in Manila, said it is still having discussions with the Sri Lanka government to cancel plans to donate the baby elephant to a zoo in Manila.
Cabinet Spokesperson Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena had recently announced that following a proposal made by Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne, approval was granted to donate the baby elephant from the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage to the Manila Zoo to mark the occasion of the Golden Jubilee celebration of the bilateral relations between Sri Lanka and Philippines.
However PETA Asia, an affiliate of the world’s largest animal rights organisation, raised strong objections against the government’s move and wrote to Prime Minister Jayaratne urging him to take immediate action preventing the donation of the baby elephant to the Manila Zoo.
“If you care about elephants, you would never send one to the Manila Zoo to suffer for the rest of its life. You are probably unaware that Mali, the elephant who currently resides at the Manila Zoo, is cruelly denied socialisation, stimulation, room to explore, and everything else that is natural and important to her. Mali lives a “life” of intense confinement, loneliness, boredom, and isolation in an area a fraction of the size of her natural habitat. She is forced to endure the sweltering heat in the Philippines with little relief,” PETA Vice-President of International Operations, Jason Baker wrote in his letter to Prime Minister Jayaratne.
Following the letter, Senior Campaigner, PETA Asia, Ashley Fruno told The Sunday Leader that PETA was currently in discussions with the Sri Lankan government calling on it to immediately cancel plans to transfer the baby elephant from a government-run elephant orphanage to the Manila Zoo. “There has been a huge outcry from the Sri Lankan public about the donation and I think the government is really feeling the pressure and taking the issue seriously,” Fruno said.
All attempts by The Sunday Leader to contact Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne for a comment failed.
http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2011/09/25/damn-manila-%E2%80%93-hold-that-elephant-peta/
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