A gift of a Sri Lankan baby elephant to Prime Minister John Key on Wednesday was intended to be a gesture of diplomatic warmth, but it has left animal rights activists outraged.

Key is on a two-day visit to Colombo, where Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Maithripala Sirisena presented him with a deed of ownership for a five-year-old elephant named Nandi.

She was the second elephant New Zealand had been gifted by Sri Lanka in the past year, after another baby, named Anjalee, arrived in Auckland last June.

Sri Lanka has also given elephants to China, Japan, South Korea, the Czech Republic and the United States in recent years, but the latest gift has prompted calls for the practice to stop.

Sagarika Rajakarunanayake, head of the Sathva Mithra (Friends of Animals) group, told AFP that previous pleas had been ignored by the government.

"We are very disappointed ... We wrote three weeks ago asking the government to stop this practice. I think they don't even read our letters."

The activists were concerned that Nandi, who lives in tropical climes of about 27 degrees, would suffer in New Zealand's cooler temperatures.

Eight-year-old Anjalee was said to have flourished since leaving a Sri Lankan elephant orphanage in March last year. She was quarantined in Niue before arriving in New Zealand.

In Colombo, Key told Sirisena and gathered dignitaries that Anjalee had gained 700 kilograms in a yarn.

"[Anjalee] is loving its life in New Zealand and I am sure its friend will have such a good time as well in New Zealand."

(stuff.co.nz)