Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2016-07-05

Maintaining a Pool of Elephants consisting of about 35 Tuskers / Male Elephants / Female Elephants under the Zoological Department to make them to participate in cultural activities

- The Perahera culture in Sri Lanka has inherited a proud history and especially the splendid peraheras such as Dalada Perahera have drawn the attention of the whole world. It has been observed that, participation of Tuskers and Elephants is essential to maintain the beauty, magnificence and sacredness of a procession. The obtaining of elephants for peraheras has become a problem when Dalada Perahera and other famous peraheras are held during the same period of time. It has been found difficult to have all the existing elephants participate in pageant occasions due to the ageing and musth of elephants. Accordingly, with the objective of training elephants to take part in pageant activities, the proposal made by Hon. Gamini Jayawickrema Perera, the Minister of Sustainable Development and Wildlife, to establish a pool of tamed Elephants from Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage and Udawalawa 'Eth Athuru Sewana' if necessary, to a maximum of 35 Tuskers / Male Elephants/Female Elephants and maintain it as a unit of the Department of Zoology, was approved by the Cabinet.