In Sri Lanka, there is a company called Mr. Ellie Pooh that has begun making toilet paper out of elephant dung. In Sri Lanka, there are 4,000 elephants, which represent 10 percent of the global Asian elephant population, and some of these elephants are killed because they cause problems with agriculture. Like prairie dogs in North America, the elephants are being eliminated as a pest, rather than a resource. The people of Sri Lanka don’t eat elephant, and there is no ivory trade there, so other than the ‘pest’ status, there is no reason to kill these majestic animals.

 

However, thanks to Mr. Ellie Pooh, elephants may be seen as a resource that can be sustained, not hunted, and protected. By making elephants valuable towards the economy of Sri Lanka, they will be protected rather than hunted. Then, new methods to protect crops from elephants will be devised because no one will want to hurt the growing paper industry that is built upon the foundation of elephant dung.

 

The toilet paper and other types of paper is made from 75 percent elephant dung collected from Sri Lanka elephant orphanages, and 25 percent post-consumer waste.