Courtesy The Daily Mirror

In the wake of the elephant Muthu Raja who was badly abused while being kept at a Buddhist temple, several Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are attempting to publicize the notion that elephants should be removed from the perahera culture, Asgiriya Chapter Venerable Narampanawe Ananda Thera said.

He told the media that Muthu Raja was a well-tamed elephant.

This is a planned propaganda that NGOs always resort to during every perahera season, Thera said.

“Every nation in any country has its own culture. In the Sinhala Buddhist culture, we used to use elephants. In England, horses are used for their royal ceremonies as part of their own culture,” he said.

According to the reports issued by the Wildlife Department, a large number of elephants were killed during the human-elephant conflict in 2022. But none of the tamed elephants have died yet due to abuse.

While condemning the statement made by Venerable Pahiyangala Ananda Sagara Thera, the Asgiriya Chapter said that there is no vocational training or education that can be given for the care of elephants, and that always comes from practice.

Therefore, people should stand against those NGOs to protect our own perahera culture, the Thera added. (Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama)