My parents and I went on a trip to Polonnaruwa. We went to the Parakrama Samudra, saw the statue of King Parakramabahu and went to see the Somawathi Chethiya. But the most fascinating part of our trip was the elephants. We came across six elephants, and three of them were in the middle of the road! They did not mind us shouting, nor did they care about the honking vehicles.
Sri Lanka is home to the most beautiful elephants in the world. Sri Lanka itself is well known for its elephants. However, Sri Lankan people do not care about these gentle creatures. As we went along our journey we saw a shop selling elephant skulls! Believe it or not, but they were actual elephant skulls! But that’s not all. People have built their homes right in the middle of the elephant’s homes, the jungle. That’s why elephants ‘attack’ humans; they have built their homes right in the elephants’ territory. No wonder they come to the humans’ area; it’s their land!
It’s a fact that elephants move from one jungle to another, time to time. Yet, there are obstructions, such as infrastructure, roads and people. That’s when they come to peoples’ lands, and they shoot them down. In my opinion, we should give them some freedom. I suggest that we can leave a small proper area for them to cross from one jungle to another, elephant corridors, without it being a nuisance to humans. And also establish a rule for people not to build houses in these corridors, as they have done now. We can also plant many trees in the areas where they are allowed to roam, so that they realize that the parts with many trees is their territory, whereas the areas with less trees are the humans’ area, where they are not allowed to roam. Remember; elephants are one of the most intelligent species in the animal kingdom. They could distinguish between their area and ours. So if we can do something like that, they will be happy, and we will be happy too.
Elephants are now near the point of extinction. We must protect our Sri Lankan elephants. We must do something for them. Let’s protect our elephants.
Lihini Wijesekara (Grade 8)
Lyceum International School, Wattala
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