Proper legislation necessary to combat elephant racketeers: Sajith

COLOMBO (News 1st); Proper legislation is necessary to combat against elephant racketeers, says Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa. Premadasa, speaking at the Parliament today (11) informed that an abandoned elephant calf of around 7-8 years old was found 6 km away from the Panahaduwa range at the Udawalawa National Park by Army officers last night, It was reported that the legs of the calf were tied to a tree in a brutal manner. After informing the Forest officer personnel of the Udawalawa National Park, Army officers handed over the ill-treated elephant calf to the elephant orphanage in Udawalawa, who was previously released from the same orphanage last year. The Opposition Leader, citing this incident stated that this incident is a red flag of an elephant racket rearing its head. Furthermore, Premadasa also urged the Minister of Wildlife to look into the matter, and pointed out the need to take immediate measures to bring back the elephants who were stolen via such rackets earlier. In order to save our elephants we need to bring them back to our national parks, emphasized Premadasa. Environmentalist Nayanaka Ranwella speaking to News 1st also pointed out that there is an ongoing racket to steal wild elephants from national parks, and stated that the racketeers were there at the situation just before the elephant calf was found by the authorities. Ranwella added that if the authorities claim that the racketeers fled at the time of the raid, the reason as to not to arresting such suspects, at least with the use of road blocks or other methods.