Colombo’s somewhat eccentric Gangarama Temple is holding a grand procession near the Beira Lake. Basically everything around the Daily Mirror office and the Beira Lake will be closed to traffic, besides elephant, dancer and fire-bearing traffic (route list, of sorts).
Just yesterday I saw some of the elephants moving into position, sorta casually walking through traffic.
It’s actually debateable what the elephants think of these events. Some have said that it amounts to animal cruelty, taking baby elephants from their families, etc. Elephants are not very domesticated and they have to be guided at all times in chains by mahouts with, like, spears.
The procession’s connection with Buddhism is also dubious. With Sri Lankan Buddhism, yes, but this is tied more to a local culture and, like, war elephants than anything particular about the Buddha.
All that said, I still love peraheras. I think the elephants for the most part are treated with care and I enjoy the cultural aspects of Sri Lankan Buddhism as well. With a good seat you can feel the heat on your face and the cracking of whips, dancing, lights and sheer endurance of all the performers is amazing. I’m going tonight, I think it’ll be a good show.
It is an event created basically by Podi Hamuduruwo of the Temple, taking advantage of the location and giving people living in Colombo to view a spectacle. In the old days there were as many as 110 elephants and would have been a bit of bravado to tell Kandy that Colombo also can put a show if they want.
It has now become a tradition, a tourist attraction, and Podi Hamuduruwo also helps to encourage some of our traitions in dancing and drumming and fire eating. He makes it worth their while by providing them with some of their needs be it food, costumes, or money and so all in all there is a reason for some live entertainment on traditional lines for all to see. Nothing bad.
As for the elephants, I really dont know what goes on in their heads, however with them at the Viharamahadevi Park before hand and lodging there, maybe they get to meet up with their pals once a year. The are known to have incredible memory for remembering things that happened a long time ago. So maybe they look forward to the pomp and pagentry and putting on a show. Then again it is maybe and I dont really know
“maybe they look forward to the pomp and pagentry and putting on a show” ——–
maybe, maybe not, who knows. Does that justify using them for entertainment? I would be scared stiff if I was an elephant! That also doesn’t address the root problem of if they’ve been separated from their families and why? and why they are kept in these temples rather than a reserve? What do they do there, at other times? Just hang out and pose for photos or hard labour? Are they kept bound and with little ability to move around (:( )? Sorry to be so naive.
This is a nice mini doc ‘should elephants weep?’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og0qybutTO8&feature=related
Anyway, it’s just informative of what we already know. Nice to watch though.
Would you like to be held under ‘captivity’ and told when to see your ‘pals’ in Kandy? I’m just sayin’! If we respect these animals so much, then why do we treat them like slaves? Isn’t it counter-intuitive to parade them bound in chains? What do they do the rest of the time, when they are not at the Perahera? I guess if they are not used for heavy labour and given some freedom for movement then I would think it was all in all ok in an elephant welfare sense. In Jaipur, at the amber fort, they offer elephant rides where the poor elephants have to give people rides up a steep ascent in the sun. Would you like to do that? Do you feel sorry for the human rickshaw people?
Are you a vegetarian? If you are and you care about ALL animal life equally I can understand your sentiments.
If not STFU, seriously.
Parading elephants is evil but slaughtering thousands of cows, goats, chickens and fish on a daily basis is OK because you can satisfy your taste buds and fill your stomach? Do you feel sorry for them?
If you want to end the tradition of using elephants in parades then why not end the tradition of eating meat? I mean, at least the elephant is alive and being fed – and not being killed and eaten. Get a grip.
Firstly, I would like to say that there is no need for being so patronizing and using bad language to make a point. I think we are all adults and can have a discussion without resorting to swear words and etc. Really, the worst debaters I know (certain Sri Lankan politicians *cough*) use such language which totally deviates from the point.
Secondly, I was vegetarian but due to certain constraints I had to start eating meat. But that’s irrelevant to this conversation, quite frankly.
The argument you make is most basic and that point has been made over and over again. For example, PETA and other such organizations advocate vegetarianism in complement with ethical treatment of animals. On the other hand, people like David Attenborough and others who spend their entire lives understanding animals, in their natural habitats are not vegetarians, they believe that humans are omnivores by nature or have evolved into this due to food supply issues and all that. How about the fact that we share over sixty percent of our genetic composition with bananas (genes which are used for similar functions) and likewise a similar sharing ratio with chickens. Both are considered living organisms — there are obvious differences between a chicken and a banana — but underlying this is a very subtle notion of how our realities can be construed.
On the whole though, I agree with you! So, I’m not trying to take a moral high ground or anything, just posed a bunch of questions.
However, I would also like to say that I would rather be cut up into pieces and eaten (immediate pain) than spend my whole life as a slave. It’s about quality of life. I’m not advocating for killing and eating FYI, just ordering preferences.
If I was at the bottom of the food chain (as an organism) what I really care about is how well and naturally I got to live my life, in spite of the many surrounding. But this deviates.
Listen, having spent a good 15 years in Africa and having spent a significant portion of time in nature with wild animals, it shows you that confinement is just so wildly different from having the opportunity to roam free. Even going to zoos makes me sad, because you can see the sadness, the separation, and isolation of those animals. The very forces of nature however, imply that there is a lot of underlying suffering, but you still get to live your life. Just because a deer could potentially get massacred by a lion within days of being born does that mean we should find the deer and keep it in a cage? Does that mean humans should not hunt animals? I don’t know.
It’s the same thing with humans, some countries (groups) make decisions for other countries, encroaching on their civil liberties, because they think it’s better but ultimately, it’s worse…..
ps (off tangent): see awesome series on slavery in the 21st century http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/slaverya21stcenturyevil/
You know you’ve made a good point when Omr gets all condescending (and stupid). Expect more of the same AS.
People often say that I’d rather die than be a slave or be tortured. But our criminal justice system never reflects this hierarchy.
Ooh, I love these debates.
As a meat eater I’d love to agree with AS, but OMR is right too. There must be many people who remain vegetarian even if it’s bad for their health, out of compassion. We should deal with cruelty to animals in captivity, but we should be equally concerned about the worse forms of cruelty that go on in slaughterhouses.
Dodo, I don’t see that happening anytime soon, we’re too bound by religious belief and the value placed on human life, however wretched. Wonder how many people would actually take the option of death if it was offered them.
Also, interesting point about a chicken and a banana.
So you agree you are being a total hypocrite AS?
If you eat meat and are therefore being a reason for its massacre, then quit whining and moaning about the “poor elephants” or the “poor dogs.” It’s laughable.You talk about about preferring to be cut up into pieces and eaten, but I bet my bottom dollar you’ll change your mind if you were actually faced with the prospect. Have you ever seen an animal be slaughtered? It certainly ain’t all sunshine and candy. How many cows, goats and chickens have you eaten over your lifetime? No pity for them? Hmm? Imagine if all the living ones knew that their ‘pals’ were being digested in your intestines. If you respect animals WHY KILL AND EAT THEM???
The vegetarian or nothing argument is a logical dead end.
By that logic you can’t do anything for a cause if you don’t do everything, hence nothing gets done.
It is quite possible to support humane treatment of animals and eat meat. More generally, you don’t have to support everything to support something. That type of reasoning logically ends in nothing being talked about or done.
“It is quite possible to support humane treatment of animals and eat meat. ” Yes, but it’s total hypocrisy.
Because eating meat is NOT essential for survival. People eat meat because it tastes good and it is an established tradition. The silly assumption being made by many is that somehow it is not cruel or inhumane to kill an animal. How does that make any sense? How is depriving another living creature of its life not cruel or inhumane? Elephants in a parade is cruel, but slitting the neck of cows/goats/calves/chickens while they are screaming and then skinning them alive is not? There is no such thing as “humane slaughter” – the act of killing an animal itself is inhumane and cruel. People just want a convenient excuse to eat meat… and yet whine and moan about things like elephants made to walk in a parade.
Like I said, if someone was a vegetarian and cared about animal life and they voiced their opposition to the supposed ‘cruelty’ to elephants/dogs/etc it would make sense and I see them as genuine animal lovers. The others are just farting hot air, trying desperately to put on airs as lovers of animals while on their way to McDonalds to eat the carcass of a cow that was simply slaughtered to make a tasty meal.
Firstly, it’s a little difficult to get the essential proteins you get from meat without using expensive substitutes. So for the vast majority of people in this country eating meat is as much a necessity as it is a luxury. In that sense you can eat meat and still call for animal rights without being hypocritical.
Eating vegetables in Sri Lanka is not difficult. It is also a lot cheaper.
Very few vegetables will give you the proteins you unless you consume absurd amounts.
Nope. Beans and/or spinach give you more than enough. You are just desperate to find an excuse to eat meat because you like the taste and it is an established tradition. No problem, continue on eating meat, just admit you are an absolute hypocrite when you talk about animal rights and pretend to be concerned about their welfare. “Oh those poor elephants walking in the parade! How cruel! Mmmm… this black pork curry is delicious, more please!!”
nonsense, 100g of spinach has 2.2g of protien 100g of beans will give you 10gs of protien. you need 70gs a day. fish or chicken generally has around 35g of protein per 100g.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinach#Nutrition
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bean#Types
You have to eat a whole load of beans…then you can be gassy like Omr.