For the sake of dead elephants, this place will no longer produce single-use plastic

The Sri Lankan government recently announced that from June this year, the production or sale of any disposable plastics, including plastic tableware, cocktail shakers and artificial plastic flowers, will be banned in Sri Lanka .

This ban may seem harsh at first glance, but in fact, this is not the first time Sri Lanka has taken action against plastic: in 2017, Sri Lanka completely banned non-biodegradable plastic bags; in 2021, the country stopped all imports of plastic tableware, packaging, and toys, retaining only domestic manufacturers and sellers.

Behind this series of increasingly severe bans lie groups of wild animals dying from plastic poisoning .

Wild elephant carcasses in an open landfill in Sri Lanka | Achala Pussalla / AP NEWS

Plastic is to blame

Sri Lanka has been plagued by plastic pollution. Due to the lack of a sound management system, a large amount of plastic waste is randomly dumped next to farmland or on the beach , causing great harm to local wildlife. Ceylon elephants and deer that often roam near human settlements have become the most notable victims.

For many years, these wild animals have coexisted with human society and have long been accustomed to looking for food in open garbage cans and open garbage dumps . However, the seemingly rich meal hides a murderous intent: tiny hard plastic fragments that are difficult to distinguish, and plastic packaging disguised as leftover food, are likely to be swallowed by hungry animals.

A wild elephant foraging in a garbage dump | Achala Pussalla / AP NEWS

After that, these non-degradable plastic wastes may pierce the soft organs of animals like sharp knife handles, or invade their stomach cavities, slowly releasing toxins. Eventually, the owner of this flesh can no longer eat normally, and the limbs are no longer able to support the huge body, and can only die in pain.

In the previous nine years, at least 20 elephants died from eating plastic-mixed garbage at a garbage dump near the capital Colombo. About five years ago, dozens of wild deer died from plastic poisoning in the northeastern port city of Trincomalee. These facts have forced Sri Lankans to be alert to plastic waste from time to time.

The Ceylon elephant (Elephas maximus maximus) is a subspecies of the Asian elephant | Charles J. Sharp / Wikimedia Commons

Animals that do not directly consume plastic may also have plastic waste in their bodies.

In urban areas of Sri Lanka, researchers have also found traces of plastic in the feces of fishing cats. Given that fishing cats have no history of foraging in garbage, it is likely that they have eaten prey with plastic in their bodies, and the plastic has entered their bodies through the food chain .

Fishing cats (Prionailurus viverrinus) live around wetlands and feed mainly on fish, birds and small rodents | Sanjaya Adikari

Many non-governmental conservation organizations and veterinarians have called on people to pay attention to the harm of plastic waste, and the government has also made efforts - they announced that they would recycle garbage at the landfill and set up electric fences around the landfill and villages to prevent wild animals from approaching. Unfortunately, these policies have not been continuously implemented and improved, and have finally become empty talk.

Since subsequent management policies are difficult to implement, it is better to cut off the source directly. Sri Lanka’s ban this time also demonstrates its determination to rectify the plastic problem.

More than just plastic

Wild animals die from plastic poisoning. In addition to the increasing plastic pollution, there is another important factor behind it - human-animal conflict .

Sri Lanka is the Asian country with the highest density of Asian elephants. However, the continuous expansion of farmland and villages has led to the gradual reduction of the natural habitats of species such as elephants . These wild animals that used to roam in the mountains and forests now have to take risks and seek opportunities around human activities.

Elephants wandering through a huge garbage dump | Achala Pussalla / AP NEWS

In addition to plastic waste, elephants living close to human communities face many dangers.

On the one hand, although poaching in Sri Lanka is not rampant, without the cover of the mountains and forests, they are more vulnerable to gunfire.

On the other hand, if they accidentally break into the village, farmers often resist out of fear when faced with large animals - whether to protect their families or to protect their farmland from being trampled. Although elephants are protected by local laws, for poor farmers, farmland is almost all their property .

Villagers also build their own electric fences to protect themselves, but because there is no system, they are often ineffective and may accidentally hurt themselves | Achala Pussalla / AP NEWS

As a result, although Sri Lanka has the highest density of Asian elephants, it has also become the country with the highest number of elephant deaths each year. Moreover, this is not just a tragedy for elephants, but a lose-lose situation for both humans and elephants - according to statistics, human-elephant conflict leads to the death of about 400 elephants and about 50 people each year .

Sri Lanka has built some protected areas and national parks in the hope of separating wildlife from human activity areas. However, there are still a large number of wild elephants wandering outside the fences, and elephants that have been confined to protected areas will break through the fences and return to their homeland. The road to protection is long and arduous.

A herd of elephants living in Yala National Park, Sri Lanka | Adbar / Wikimedia Commons

The story of elephants and this land has been going on for two thousand years. From war to the development of industry and agriculture, elephants have been domesticated by humans for various purposes, and gradually became a symbol of strength and protection, appearing in art and architecture. And the former protectors of humans now also need human protection.

In this religious land where Buddhist sounds spread, people and nature are telling a story of reincarnation.

References

[1]https://phys.org/news/2023-02-sri-lanka-single-use-plastics-elephants.html

[2]https://apnews.com/article/elephants-dying-plastic-waste-sri-lanka-af9c9e843c518bcbc02af760fb84ee33

[3]https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/plastic-works-its-way-up-the-food-chain-to-hit-fishing-cats-study-shows/

Author: Siyi

Editor: Mai Mai

Cover image source: Achala Pussalla / AP NEWS

This article comes from the Species Calendar, welcome to forward

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