I first came in contact with elephants while living in Sri Lanka. I had gone to Udawalawe National Park in which there is the largest population of Asian elephants in all of Sri Lanka’s national parks.
The chances of seeing them was high.
The tour vehicle was open-roofed and the small group I was with all stood and held on tight over the bumpy roads.
We came upon a herd of elephants and the driver stopped. The elephants came to us. Barely feet from the jeep, the elephants seemed as curious about us as we were about them.
I had only known of an elephant trumpeting and no sounds beyond that. What I heard that day was a deep rumbling voice from within the elephants. It could have sounded dangerous but it seemed as if they were talking among themselves about the humans; Us.
On our way out of the park, several elephants crossed the road in front of us. The driver stopped the jeep to let them pass and off to my side of the jeep, I spotted two smaller elephants. One looked like she was protecting the smaller one and I was able to get a photo of them.
Later during my 14 years of living in Sri Lanka, I did wedding photography along with my photo partner Lipton Jayawickrama. Many foreigners loved riding elephants into their weddings. To do so they not only paid for the elephant but for its handler, the mahout. I never cared for the mahouts as they seemed drunk and rough with the elephant. I suppose people thought that a strong hand was necessary to control the large animals. Along with chains.
Using elephants in weddings had become popular and not regulated so getting a good handler was a crap shoot.
I remember distinctly the moment I decided I would not do any more weddings that included an elephant. It was a beach wedding and I had a hard time holding back tears while photographing the couple on the back of a young elephant. Lipton agreed with me, it disturbed him as well.
I recently spoke to a Sri Lankan friend, Amrita Hapuarachchi, about elephants in Sri Lanka and how I stopped photographing weddings that utilize elephants. She agreed that “in terms of weddings – it’s a cultural thing and it depends on the mahout. It has become more commercial so inevitably the cruelty factor happens because of demand.”
She gave me another perspective about the use of elephants, in Sri Lanka, and the culture surrounding them.
Amrita told me, “My family had elephants back in the day for lumber work. But they were treated like kings. My grandfather had one in his backyard and would personally feed him every day and they were never tied up or hurt in anyway.
“The elephant would bow to my grandfather every morning and greet him each day and my grandfather adored him.
“The elephants were never chained, except when worked. But if they were tired or showed signs of distress, they were immediately taken home. They were taken for a wash daily and kept behind. The house has a huge backyard.”
We spoke of the chains and she compared the chains to reins used on horses. To guide them. An elephant wouldn’t even feel a leather or rope used on a horse, hence the use of chains.
Another insight Amrita gave me was when male elephants experience a biological phenomenon called “musth,” which is characterized by increased testosterone production, temporal gland secretion and urine dribbling, heightened aggression and sexual behavior, and therefore can pose unique challenges for human safety and animal welfare.
She said, “The males in musth become very unpredictable at this stage so for everyone’s safety, they’ve got to be tied up especially in a place which has a lot of visitors. Imagine if elephants suddenly attacked tourists – it would be chaotic. They have to isolate the males during this time because they can attack each other; every three months or so until the male elephant is 55 to 60 years old.”
I’ve seen elephants tied/chained in this situation and reacted with anger because of my lack of knowledge.
“One could argue not having any elephants,” said Amrita, “or any animals in captivity but if looked after well, and given space to roam and be, more people could get to see these gorgeous animals and learn about them.”
What’s a girl to do?…get the facts before passing judgement and stick to seeing elephants in the wild.
Lucy Llewellyn Byard is currently a columnist for the Record-Bee. To contact her, email lucywgtd@gmail.com
