Take the example of the baby elephant named Ganga at the so called Buddhist Temple Gangaramaya ,Colombo,SriLankaThe priests who crave to have elephants in their temples are responsible for this crime.
With a name like Ganga it has to be a girl!This 8 year old baby was snatched from the mother who lives in Katharagama ,Sri Lanka,at the age of 4.It is prestige for the priests to have a baby elephant but hell for the mother ,baby and the herd!
Bubbhism teaches 'avihimsa' which means love and kindness to all living beings! These so called Buddhist priests should practice this and not just preach it.I am a Buddhist and I know that Lord Buddha would never have approved capture of baby elephants for which sometimes mothers are killed!I do not know what happennned to Gangas' mum.
I do not think that the priests were unaware of the thrashing that baby Ganga got!they are probably trying to teach the poor baby to obey!
Ganga means river in Sinhala and a river flows freely singing its way to the sea while poor baby Ganga is tied with chains and thrashed to bits in a Buddhist Templle!This brought tears to my eyes!
Capture of baby elephants and keeping them tied up in temples or as was found out , in the previous president's house, and other very rich people , should be banned because it is a heinous crime! This deprives the baby of the the love of the mother and the herd of aunts and sisters and also the mother of a baby!They are very intelligent animals and the mother (if left alive)and herd mourns the loss of the baby!
Unfortunately it boils down to greed as these babies are worth millions of rupees!
