Sri Lanka introduces new measures to mandate captive elephants to have their own biometric ID and prohibiting riders to drink while riding them.
Wildlife Protection minister Wimalaweera Dissanayaka announced this on Thursday, together with several new measures to protect elephants where individuals in Sri Lanka often keep elephants as pets.
The new measures also require a daily 2.5-hour bath for each elephant, forbidden to work elephant babies, maximum 4 hours logging job daily and more.
Violations of the new law can result in 3 years of prison sentence for the owner and elephant being confiscated by the state.