Once I was passing Galle, I saw a large gathering who is watching some different kind of a game. I identified both local and foreign players playing elephant-polo with assistance of mahouts. That game seemed funny, because some of the elephants were not aware what was going on but mahouts had to drag them to the ball and do according to so called players’ wish. Some elephants were seen exhausted and frustrated. Anyway, I was thinking this is a very inappropriate try. We should not drag our majestic looking elephants to this pathetic situation. Elephant is a cultural symbol and I don’t like to see it as a funny puppet. So this was my vision on Elephant Polo.
After sometime back I heard that an elephant had become so violent during such a game at Galle. This simply supplied a proof that Elephants were actually not playing the game but they had been forcefully dragged to the ground. This is not the way we should treat wild animals. I guess, after this incident Elephant-Polo wasn’t tried. (Please correct me if I am wrong) So this should be taken as a warning message for people who think of ways to use animals to earn some dollars by the sake of eco-tourism.
