Sri Lanka and its Gifting of Elephants.

Since 1975, Sri Lanka has gifted 35 elephants to zoos in various countries. Of late, the most famous is Kavaan, whom Cher recently helped rescue from a life in shackles in Pakistan and relocate to a Thailand Sanctuary.

Another famous Sri Lankan born elephant was Shanthi, a 45-year-old female that was considered the world’s most studied elephant. She was euthanized on June 26 at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., after decades of increasingly debilitating osteoarthritis. She was sent to the U.S. from Sri Lanka in 1976 as an orphaned calf, a symbolic diplomatic gift from Colombo.

In 2016, President Sirisena gifted Nandi (then 6-years-old) from Pinnawala to New Zealand. Her transfer was stopped following protests from animal rights activists and a hearing in the Sri Lankan Court of Appeals.

32 additional elephants have sad stories of being taken from the Pinnawala orphanage (zoo) and gifted by uncompassionate politicians to foreign leaders for the most archaic of purposes....to court favour.

Pinnawala also has bred up to 70 elephants within its small compound. All, like the gifted elephants, are doomed to a life in shackles or concrete lined enclosures.

The politicians and the management team of Pinnawala treat these sentient Beings as objects for gifting! They've also turned the orphanage into a money making zoo!

Thankfully, due to public pressure, there is a change in these barbaric human behaviours.

We must always protest against elephant abuse...of both the wild and captives. The pressure must be increased!

Pinnawala has done much harm -- as the world's source for circus and zoo elephants. Also, captive bred elephants are proven to have shortened lives compared to wild ones (1). These births weaken elephant's DNA overall and ultimately the genetic harm is the worst possible thing any self respecting biologist or veterinarian could do (READ - Bad Karma).

We produced a video about Pinnawala and it's viewing by authorities made a difference in the zoo's operations. They are improving the facilities and amending their operational plans.

We are overjoyed to have offered this assistance to these Beautiful Sentient Beings!

Notes (1) Differences in age-specific mortality between wild-caught and captive-born Asian elephants - authors: Mirkka Lahdenperä, Alexandre Courtiol, and Virpi Lummaa; Nat Commun. 2018; 9: 3023 Published 2018 Aug 7