In a move akin to closing the stable door after the horse has bolted, the monks have put up a sign outside Raja's enclosure telling visitors not to feed Sri Lanka's most famous elephant.
The problem is that thousands of jubilant worshippers celebrating the Buddhist new year have already been plying the 45-year-old pachyderm with chocolates, rice cooked in thick milk, biscuits fried in coconut oil and sweet slices of fermented pineapple.
If anyone has ever asked themselves what it would take to floor the world's largest land animal, that would appear to be the answer. Raja was found today by his keepers at Colombo's Gangaramaya temple writhing in pain.
"He likes eating and yesterday many people came and offered him all sorts of things," said Kirinde Assaji, the monk leading efforts to help the stricken beast.
Tissa Rastnasuriya, of Colombo University's zoology department said Raja was in severe pain since elephants' digestive systems are more suited to plants rather than, say, hobnobs.
Elephants have long played an important role in Sri Lanka where many large temples have a large elephant. The Buddhist new year is often celebrated with elephant races.
According to buddhanet.net the high regard for elephants stems from a reference by the Buddha to how training a wild elephant is illustrative of the value of a mentor.
When I was a youngster, I used to wonder what effect all the mince pies and sherry left out for Father Christmas had on his ability to get up and down chimneys. Wouldn't a satsuma be better for the poor guy? Maybe the same is true of Raja.
