A JUMBO CONFLICT-
By Desmond Kelly
“CONFLICTING VIEWS”
(On a JUMBO CONFLICT)
Now, taking the spotlight away from an American Enigma, and North Korean, Russian, & Chinese question marks!, we have “Breaking-bloody-news”(pardon the pun), from Sri Lanka. Several conflicting views, as a matter of fact, from various intelligent journalists of the “Daily Mirror”.
As a confirmed “Animal-lover”, it would seem quite natural that I would have no conflicting views, whatsoever, on this subject, but I understand perfectly, that this huge, but beautiful animal, could sometimes be harmful to humans, raid their farms and territories, ruin their crops, etc.,as a matter of fact, it is now happening much more frequently. Still, this is quite reasonable to expect, as the population of this tiny Island increases every day, areas that are “home” to the elephant become much less “elephantine”
(pardon the pun, again!), and, as such, Jumbo has no alternative but to move in, with their human counterparts.
This causes huge problems. Electric fences, elephant traps,
various methods, some of them, very cruel, causing great pain, to an animal that once helped humans in no small measure, to exist. Where there was no machinery available, elephants were used to move massive trees & objects around,for the building of entire Villages, carried tourists around on their backs, for years, and still do. The ONLY animal to carry the sacred tooth relic of Lord Buddha on it’s back, every August was Rajah, the elephant, and now, it’s successor, another “Aliya” whose name I don’t know.
The elephant is practically the “emblem” of Sri Lanka. It was also the “sign” of a major political party of what is termed “The Lion Race”. Why wasn’t the “Singhaya” (lion), utilized more by the Sinhalese hierarchy?, well, let me tell you a little TRUE story. This Sinhala-lion was roaming around in the jungle in old Ceylon, bragging about being the ” King of the jungle”. All the other animals admitted to this fact, sometimes being forced to, by old Leo. One day, however, Rajah’s grandfather, Aliraja came by, and Leo started to challenge him. Aliraja did not argue with Leo, simply picked him up in his trunk, raised him high, and slammed poor Leo to the ground. Fortunately, Leo did not die, but looked up at this giant of a beast, every bone in his body, fractured or broken, and stammered to Aliraja who stood looking down at him “Why did you do that ?!!, didn’t you know that I was only ffffooling?. Aliraja replied, as he disdainfully walked off, “well, you were a ffffoolish animal”
That was a true story, folks, and here is another one.
My solution for the above conflict is simple and straight-forward. Humans, stick to your own areas. Do NOT encroach on areas meant for animals such as elephants. They need space in Sri Lanka too. Leave their jungles to the animals. They must have room to move around in, not shot at, trapped, and in pain. To finish with an old adage,
“AN ELEPHANT NEVER FORGETS”
Desmond Kelly
Star of eLanka
