A group of activists today (June 05) held a peaceful protest in Colombo, voicing their concerns on proposed animal welfare shelters and deploring the continuing number of elephant deaths.

Several animal organizations such as Animal SOS, Animal Welfare & Protection Association, Animal Wellness Trust, Animal Wellness Trust Sri Lanka, Justice for Animals And Nature, Kandy Association for Community Protection Through Animal Welfare, Rally for Animal Rights & Environment, Rescue Animals Sri Lanka and Tails of Freedom as well as activists along with concerned members of the general public attended the protest.

No to shelters ; yes to vaccination and sterilization

Protesting against the proposed government sponsored shelters and incinerators for street dogs, they call on to vaccinate and sterilize instead.They also voiced their outrage over funds not being allocated by Budget 2026 for national dog sterilization, despite it allocating Rs. 100 million for a dog crematorium cum shelter to one single LG body.This is the first time that monies have not been allocated for national dog sterilization since the year 2008, they point out.

They further note that the majority of funds allocated for the cause in the last two years have been returned back to the Treasury unused. In 2025, Rs. 155 million out of an allocation of Rs. 184 million as well as Rs. 85 million out of an allocation of Rs. 185 million in 2024 has been returned thus.