Environmental activists in Sri Lanka are fighting a court decision they say puts elephants risk. The ban, on September 16, allows people who have been accused of illegally buying or capturing wild elephants(keep) them in captivity.
Elephants are(high) respected in Sri Lanka culture. About 14,000 elephants lived in the Southern Asian nation 200 years ago, but habitat(lose) and hunting have reduced that number to about 7,500 in the wild. Officials found that by 2015, 38 baby elephants(hunt) from national parks and sold to people as pets. They took the elephants to(safe).
Earlier this year, the Sri Lankan government issued new rules that permit people to keep elephantsworking animals or pets, even if they were illegally taken from the wild. On September 6, based on those rules, a local court ordered the return of 14 of the elephants to their owners. Wildlife activists then challenged the order, (argue) that it goes against environmental laws and would cause more elephants to be taken from the wild. Ten days later, court said it would not change its order. The activists are continuing to fight and they hope for a decisionwill protect these elephants and save others from hunting in the future.
