The Court of Appeal has issued an interim order restraining the Director General of the Wildlife Conservation Department from registering all elephants in terms of the new regulations challenged in court.
The Court of Appeal has further issued an interim order directing officials of the Department of Wildlife Conservation not to release the cow elephant named “Sujeewa” and her three-month-old baby elephant back to the claimants or any other party.
These two interim orders will be effective until the final determination of the writ petitions filed by the Centre for Eco-Cultural Studies, Justice for Animals Sri Lanka, and the Centre for Environmental Justice.
“Sujeewa” is one of 14 tamed elephants recently ordered to be released back to their original claimants. Sujeewa gave birth to a baby elephant while being kept in the custody of the Department of Wildlife Conservation. The petitioners alleged that her separation would adversely affect the well-being of the baby elephant.
Court of Appeal Justices Sobhitha Rajakaruna and Justice Dhammika Ganepola fixed the petitions for argument on November 4.
According to the petitioners, the decision to return elephants to the perpetrators is contrary to the interests of elephant conservation and protection, as well as a violation of the State’s fundamentally compelling duty to ensure the fostering and propagation of national heritage for the benefit of all citizens, both current and future generations.
The petitioners further state that ensuring the due care and wellbeing of an elephant can only be done effectively by people who are intensely knowledgeable about elephants and their behaviour, and this should be based on a scientific premise and not purely on grandiose self-proclamation or perception.
The petitioners have cited the Ministry of Wildlife Protection, the Director General of Wildlife Conservation, the Director General of the Department of National Zoological Gardens, and the Cabinet of Ministers as respondents to the petition.
The environmental organisations alleged that 15 elephants held under the custody of the Department of National Zoological Gardens as productions were released back to those accused of illegally capturing them from the wild.
They are illegally keeping the elephants in their possession on the strength of fraudulent documents and without registering them in terms of the provisions of Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance No. 2 of 1937, as amended.
Former State Minister of Wildlife Protection, Wimalaweera Dissanayake, had issued an extraordinary gazette notification to regularise the registration of tamed elephants. According to this new regulation, the Director-General of Wildlife is vested with the power to register and issue a license in respect of tamed elephants.
