I live in England and am visiting Sri Lanka on holiday.   

Last week I saw the Elephant Dance at the Dehiwala Zoo.  I had already been around the Zoo and seen beautiful animals, reptiles and birds in varying conditions.  I was saddened to see the rhinoceros swaying to and fro seemingly traumatised.  Elephants old and young too showed similar constant stereotypic behaviour.  Our fellow primates, the chimpanzees did not have any stimulation to keep their brains active.

The Elephant Dance was obviously a popular event and most probably the highlight of each child's visit. The arena was crowded.

How sad it was for me to see our majestic elephants hopping, standing on tiny stools, walking backwards, turning around (once again on tiny stools) and finally balancing on their forelegs and trunk for the entertainment of us human beings. The mahouts followed closely with ankuses to jab them if they disobeyed.

Surely it must be painful for the elephants to take their enormous weight on their forelegs and head?  It certainly is dangerous for them to perform acts on tiny stools, to merely entertain humans who are least aware of the phasing out of such events, globally. 

I realise that the Zoo needs income, but surely there are other ways to gain income without having to subject our peace loving animals to this ridiculous behaviour? What have they done to be punished in this way by being held captive, remain tethered - enslaved in chains for several hours in the day and allowed some exercise only to have to perform these strange and dangerous movements?

My request is simple.  Please can we have the following:-

1.     A ban on pointed ankuses and the introduction of curved ankuses with the objective of eventually using only the stick, which is much more humane, for handling the elephants as most of the international breeding centres and sanctuaries presently do.

2.     Stop forcing our elephants to have to perform tricks that endanger their lives or the lives of the human spectators whether for reasons of financial gain or otherwise and launch an interactive educational programme for elephant conservation.

3.     Provide a habitat for our animals that is closer to their natural living conditions and move the elephants to the open enclosure at Wagolla.

Thank you