What is your opinion about using Elephants for Processsions????

well i think sometimes elephants are maltreated when used for these activities and that i do not agree with. sometimes it is not quite so bad. i think one of the worst things was when they used to be used in circuses over here - they were kept in horrible conditions and treated cruelly and basically it was not a way to treat any animal, particularly ones that intelligent and sensitive.

I think people need to treat all animals with respect, but especially creatures like elephants. They are far too intelligent and sensitive for mistreatment because they have the ability to process what's happening to them. Things like the ivory trade are terrible and cruel, not to mention completely unnecessary.

In Sri Lanka, Elephants can be divided in to three main groups. One is wild Elephants, and they live mostly a natural wild life. Another is worker Elephants, which are used to carry weights like timber, and used to heavy work. The use of these worker elephants are getting low due to the introduction of new machinery like backhoes and cranes. The third group of elephants are used for processions in the temples. These elephants are trained from their childhood to get used to the ceremonies like Perahera. There are well over 100 elephants participating famous KANDY PERAHERA, the main cultural event in Sri Lanka. It is known that only a few elephants in the world have the privilege to carry the Tooth Relic of Lord Buddha during the Kandy 'ESALA PERAHERA'. Even the governments of India, Thailand, Myanmar have donated elephants (specially tuskers) to be trained to participate the perahara and be lucky enough to carry the Tooth Relic one day.